Versione Italiano/Italian Version The headlines are difficult to read: Highway closed, trains blocked, Flooding 4 dead, 6 missing, hundreds without houses” but the images are even harder to look at. A small piece of paradise has become an inferno.
The Cinque Terre is visited by thousands of tourists every year. It is a strikingly beautiful place suspended between the sky and the sea, 
but it has a very fragile ecosystem. This was never more evident than when this area’s delicate equilibrium was upset this week. Tuesday morning, October 25, it began to rain in Liguria. After a hot dry summer the ground was not ready to receive a flood of water that continued for hours. In the early afternoon, the water ran down the streets of the villages and by early evening the majority of these villages were devasted by a river of water and mud that dragged everything in its path toward the ocean. Now the villages of Manarola, Vernazza, Rio Maggiore, Corniglia and Monterosso are inaccessible by train; the railway is blocked by mud and debris. The flooding, which reached 6 feet high filled the first floors of the old building, some constructed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Businesses,
churches, warehouses and basements are in ruin. The people of the cinque terre are without gas, electricity, running water and telephone services do not work.
The sun is rising again over the cinque terre and they have begun to clean the houses, piazzas, the streets and the train tracks. There is a new determination to put things right again and fix the things destroyed. This tragedy reminds me of another flood that destroyed Florence in the sixties. The courage with which the Italians deal with these types of crises is amazing. Also amazing are the efforts of foreigners that come from all angles of the world to help. As in Florence I imagine there will be Mud Angels that will help the cinque terre. For now tourist should stay away from the five lands so as not to interfere with the cleanup. I am sure that with much work the splendor of the Cinque Terre will return. If you would like to help the cinque terre check out the information at the bottom of the page which I got from Kate Little who lives in Liguria just below the cinque terre.
IF YOU LIVE IN ITALY-
- È possibile inviare un SMS al numero 45500 per donare 2 euro per le persone colpite dalle inondazioni in Vernazza e Monterosso.
(YOU CAN SEND AN SMS TO THE NUMBER 45500 to donate 2 euro to those affected by the floods in Vernazza and Monterosso.)
- Si può anche donare per ricostruire la scuola elementare e media di Monterosso, donando a questo conto corrente bancario (You can also donate to reconstruct the elementary and middle school of Monterosso by donating to this bank account – CODICE IBAN IT 07 U 02008 09432 000101739561)
- You can donate through the San Paolo bank – IBAN IT 80 O 03069 05061 100000000567 «Un aiuto subito. Alluvione Levante ligure e Lunigiana» presso Banca Intesa Sanpaolo, filiale di Roma, viale Lina Cavalieri 236
- Or through the account that the Genoese newspaper ‘Il Secolo XIX’ has set up – IBAN IT11 Y061 7501 4000 0000 3452 080, specificando come causale “alluvione Spezia”. Il conto corrente è intestato a Società Edizioni e Pubblicazioni (S.E.P.) Spa.
Ci sono punti di raccolta per alimenti non deperibili, articoli da toeletta, strumenti di lavoro come picconi, pale, carriole, guanti e stivali di gomma, prodotti per bambini, batterie, torce elettriche, vestiti caldi, coperte, ecc, costituita a La Spezia, Santo Stefano Magra, Levanto e nel Golfo di Poeti.
(There are collection points for non-perishable foods, toiletries, work tools such as picks, shovels, wheelbarrows, rubber boots and gloves, baby supplies, batteries, flashlights, warm clothes, blankets, etc., set up in La Spezia, Santo Stefano Magra, Levanto and in the Golfo di Poeti.)
IF YOU LIVE OUTSIDE OF ITALY AND WOULD LIKE TO DONATE-
-The town of Monterosso has set up an account:
MUNICIPALITY OF MONTEROSSO:
IBAN: IT64W0603049870000046275829
HEADING: “Un aiuto per Monterosso e Vernazza”
CAUSAL: “Alluvionati 5 Terre”
-IL SECOLO XIX AND BANCA CARIGE
IBAN: IT11 Y061 7501 4000 0000 3452 080
BIC: CRGEITGG040
CIN: Y
CAB: 01400
HEADING: Società Edizioni e Pubblicazioni (S.E.P.) Spa
CAUSAL: “Alluvione Spezia”
