Tents provide school venue for Italian quake survivors

School reopened in a blue tent city today in a symbolic return to normality for some of the youngest victims of Italy’s earthquake.

Premier Silvio Berlusconi and education minister Mariastella Gelmini were expected to be on hand for the start of lessons in the tents of Poggio Piacenza, a few miles from the hard-hit city of L’Aquila.

Some volunteers started lessons yesterday in another tent city, but today’s opening in Poggio Piacenza marks the official restart of the school year for victims of the earthquake which struck central Italy on April 6, killing 294 people.

Civil protection chief Guido Bertolaso noted that this was only a “partial reopening” and that it would still take time for other schools to get under way, either in tent cities or in buildings deemed safe enough to house students.

Ms Gelmini insisted that none of the children would miss any of the school year as a result of the quake and said she had signed a decree allowing quake victims who had relocated to enrol in any school across the country.

Of the 55,000 people displaced by the quake, an estimated 33,000 are living in the 100-plus tent cities erected in and around L’Aquila and the 26 affected towns and villages.

Mr Bertolaso said an estimated 20,000 people probably will not be able to return to their homes because they are so damaged, and will need continued assistance through the summer at least.

He said the remainder are believed to be living in tents or hotels because they are afraid of returning home while aftershocks continue, even though their homes are habitable.

Italy’s interior minister has estimated rebuilding will cost at least €12bn.