Amatrice marks 10 years since earthquake amid reconstruction anger

Residents of Amatrice gathered on Monday for a mass to mark the 10th anniversary of the earthquake that devastated the central Italian town, but the commemoration was shadowed by frustration over reconstruction, according to the Guardian. As of April, two-thirds of planned public projects in Amatrice had yet to begin, rising to seven in 10 in the hardest-hit areas.

The anniversary has renewed international attention on the slow recovery from one of Italy's deadliest recent earthquakes, which struck on 24 August 2016 and killed hundreds across the central Apennines. The Guardian reported that the pace of rebuilding has become a symbol of bureaucratic inertia, with many residents still waiting to return to permanent homes a decade on.

For Trentino-Alto Adige, the anniversary carries a particular resonance. The region sits in a seismically active zone along the Alps, and its autonomy-funded civil protection systems are often cited as a model for disaster response. The contrast between the efficiency of Alpine emergency management and the drawn-out recovery in central Italy has been a recurring theme in international coverage of Italian disaster policy.