Tragedy under the sun

While more and more details of the tragedy are trickling in, concentrating on the usual summer holiday trivialities seems impossible. 

One can only hang on the smartphone following the life stream of the search and rescue efforts taking place on location.

For those of you that have not heard the news last night a terrible earthquake struck central Italy. Four villages in the Appennines were completely destroyed in matter of minutes.

While I frantically read through the accounts, the comments and the anectodes that appear on the web edition of major Italian newspapers, what strikes me is the incredible amount of children that feature in the stories. Both among the rescued as well as among the dead.

I think about it and then it dawns on me, it is summer holidays, these are city children spending part of the three months long school holiday at the grandparents in the old village where their families come from originally.

This could not sound more familiar, one of these children could have been me thirty years ago.

Even though my mother family does not exactly come from that region, the small Appennines village where they come from looks identical to those flattened by the earthquake.

The same stone houses, the same paved Main Street, the same church bell tower! To these villages, many families that have moved to the city, come back in the summer. Or send the children to escape the heat and the apartment confinement of the city buildings.

In my memory spending time there was both great and dreadful. Great being spoiled by the grandparents, being stuffed full with delicious food. Dreadful for the awful tv signal reception, the lack of toys and city friends.

How awful to think that some of these kids found their death there. In an environment that was for them familiar and yet extraneous, as it was for me then.

The last time that I have visited my mother's village was for my grandmother funeral some ten years ago. For some reason which is too convoluted to explain in this post I do not particularly like going back there.

Looking at the images of the disaster one would very much be willing to help but I am afraid there is very little that I can do which would really help.

The social media world shows its participation with the hashtag

#PrayForItaly

knowing what I know about how things go in Italy I pray that there will be peace in heaven for the dead and justice on earth for the survivors.