Was the mudslide in Sicily a minor tragedy?

Yesterday, I received a set of pictures from a dear friend in Sicily. It is still about the bad weather (see picture on the left and slideshow at the bottom) and the disaster that all this rain is causing in Sicily. I did not have the time to upload the pictures right away and I apologize with my friend. He lives nearby Capo d’Orlando (ME) and these pictures are from there.

This might not seem connected… However, reading Il Corriere della Sera online this morning, I could not avoid noticing an article where somebody is denouncing that the mudslide in Sicily was not treated as it deserved. I have seen this complain here and there, but I was a bit surprised that one of the major national newspapers dedicated an article to this argument and posted it on its homepage.

My Sicilian countrymen are lamenting that they did not receive the same spotlight as the people in Aquila for the earthquake. I do not think anybody wants to file rankings of tragedies. If we started, we could never end probably. For instance, the same time that the mudslide hit Sicily and killed over 20 people, a storm destroyed thousands of homes in the Philippines and killed over 400 people in a few hours. Did the Italian press cover this natural disaster adequately?

I want to say bluntly that in spite of all the illegal building going on in Aquila prior to the earthquake, an earthquake sounds more of a fatality than building homes on a river and/or mountain destined to collapse sooner or later (apparently everybody knew this in Giampillieri, where the mudslide took place a few weeks ago). All the respect to the victims and their families in Sicily, but this was totally a man-made, easy to prevent disaster: no doubt about it! I am not saying that it was a a minor tragedy, but it is understandable that the press and Italian people react this way. The lesson from this tragedy should be to prevent and avoid the next one instead of denouncing the little attention received.

And here is another mudslide (slideshow)… Luckily no victims this time.