Amatrice Marks Quake Anniversary With Reconstruction Far From Complete

As people gathered in Amatrice on Monday for a mass to mark the 10th anniversary of the earthquake that devastated the central Italian town, the Guardian reported that reconstruction remains painfully slow. According to the newspaper, as of April, two-thirds of planned public projects in Amatrice had yet to begin, a figure that rises to seven in 10 in the hardest-hit areas.

The 2016 earthquake struck in the early hours of 24 August, killing hundreds of people across a swathe of central Italy that included Amatrice, Accumoli and Arquata del Tronto. The town of Amatrice, known for its pasta dish amatriciana, became a symbol of the disaster and of the slow, bureaucratic path to recovery that followed.

The Guardian's report, published on the eve of the anniversary, paints a picture of a community still waiting for the public works that were promised in the aftermath of the disaster. The slow pace of reconstruction stands in contrast to the scale of the destruction, which levelled much of the town's historic centre.