EARTHQUAKE, ITALY

Ms CICCARELLO (Norwood) (15:43): In the week leading up to Easter, the beautiful and historic city of L'Aquila in the Abruzzi region was torn apart by a powerful and destructive earthquake. The main quake struck around 3am on 6 April and lasted just six seconds; 289 people lost their lives and tens of thousands of people were injured or left homeless. They were forced to gather what possessions they could salvage and make their homes in the freezing cold in a makeshift tent city.

Anyone who witnessed the heart wrenching pictures of the mass funeral that was held in L'Aquila's main plaza on Good Friday will never forget the scale of this tragedy. The Italian government estimates that more than $2.4 billion will be needed to rebuild and repair damaged buildings in the region. Many of the buildings in L'Aquila are of great historical and religious significance. The transept of the early mediaeval basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio—site of the coronation of Pope Celestine V in 1294—has collapsed. Stones also fell from the city's cathedral which was rebuilt in 1703 after a previous earthquake.

Of course, here in South Australia we have experienced the terrible tragedy and upheaval wrought by natural disasters: the Ash Wednesday bushfires of 1983 and the 2005 bushfires on our West Coast come hauntingly to mind and, as a nation, we are still coming to grips with the horrific fires in Victoria earlier this year. On all of these occasions, and in the wake of other catastrophic events, the support that our communities have received from others around the world has been immediate and heartfelt. That is why, on the day that news of the Abruzzo region earthquake broke, the Premier announced in state parliament that the South Australian government had donated $100,000 to the relief appeal on behalf of the South Australian community. This money has been pledged to Red Cross Australia appeal for the earthquake victims.

I have a sense of the affected area and the way in which people must be responding to the disaster. It is similar to Irpinia, the area where I was born, which is also earthquake prone and which was devastated in 1980, with 3,000 lives lost.

Approximately 2,000 South Australians were born in the Abruzzo region. When events like this earthquake take place on the other side of the world, we might, at first, feel unable to help, at least to ease the suffering of those on the ground but, of course, we can make a genuine long-term difference by digging deep and donating to an appeal which has just been launched, the Abruzzo Italian Earthquake Appeal, which was launched last Sunday and which has both the Premier, the Hon. Mike Rann, and Dr Tommasso Coniglio, the Consul General in South Australia, as joint patrons.

At the launch the Premier pledged that for every dollar raised by the appeal, the state government, on behalf of the people South Australia, would contribute an equal amount up to $100,000. I am pleased to be a member of the committee. The president of the Abruzzo Club, Mr Simon Di Francesco, is the chairman of the appeal committee, which also includes both the mayor and the deputy mayor of the City of Prospect. That is because Prospect has a sister city relationship with the City of Aquila, which was signed approximately 10 years ago. Other prominent members of the South Australian community are also part of the appeal.

Donations to the Abruzzo Italian Earthquake Appeal can be made through any Commonwealth Bank branch in South Australia. Receipted donations are fully tax deductible and can also be made at the Abruzzo Club Incorporated, which is situated at 86 Churchill Road, Prospect.

All donations will be held in a trust account specifically designated for relief and will be committed to an approved project in the devastated city of Aquila itself or in the Abruzzo region affected by the earthquake. This will help ensure that members of South Australia's Italian community, many of whom have relatives and friends affected by the earthquake, play a direct role in the rebuilding of L'Aquila and other centres.

It was pleasing to see that on the first day of the relief appeal more than $37,000 has been donated, and the generous response has been overwhelming. It is often the bonds created through tragedy and trial which are those that best grow and prosper, and it is a defining characteristic of Australians that in times of crisis we all pull together for the greater good.

Heartfelt, yet practical, responses such as this earthquake appeal are worthy of enormous praise and recognition. Our prayers are with the people of central Italy and especially with those South Australians whose relatives and friends have been seriously affected by the earthquake. These losses, and the devastation, is felt over many years, and our prayers are with the affected people.