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Abstract
<p class="first" id="d4351299e57">Italy is an earthquake-prone country and its disaster
emergency response experiences
over the past few decades have varied greatly, with some being much more successful
than others. Overall, however, its reconstruction efforts have been criticised for
being ad hoc, delayed, ineffective, and untargeted. In addition, while the emergency
relief response to the L'Aquila earthquake of 6 April 2009-the primary case study
in this evaluation-seems to have been successful, the reconstruction initiative got
off to a very problematic start. To explore the root causes of this phenomenon, the
paper argues that, owing to the way in which Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
has politicised the process, the L'Aquila reconstruction endeavour is likely to suffer
problems with local ownership, national/regional/municipal coordination, and corruption.
It concludes with a set of recommendations aimed at addressing the pitfalls that may
confront the L'Aquila reconstruction process over the next few years.
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