Camogli Landslide sends Coffins into the Sea
“There is nothing in Italy, more beautiful to me, than the coast-road between Genoa and La Spezia” (Pictures from Italy – Charles Dickens)
Liguria is a magical place, a long and narrow region in Northern Italy, bathed by the splendid Ligurian Sea and dominated to the North by the Ligurian Alps and the Ligurian Apennines. A land of poets and fishermen, which smells of basil and flowers. A wonder for the eyes and the spirit.
Unfortunately, Liguria is a place prone to landslides. Unstable and suffering from serious geological problems for some decades, the land has become extremely fragile over the years. This is mainly due to man who, building ever closer to the sea, has undermined a balance, ignoring the laws of physics and logic.
A land, that is sometimes abandoned to itself and on which the necessary prevention works are not carried out. Due to geographic, climatic and geological causes, this region amplifies the destructive damage of floods and studies show that by 2050 these destructive events will increase by up to 30%.
Floods, storms and landslides have forced families to evacuate and many people have died as a result of all this.
On 22 February 2021 in Camogli, a small fishing village in the province of Genoa, part of the cemetery collapsed into the sea.
This collapse, caused by the erosion of the cliff located under the cemetery and aggravated by the strong storms that involved Liguria, dragged about 200 coffins and two chapels containing the bodies into the sea.
Rescuers have been trying for days to bring the coffins back to port, but some have remained wedged between the rocks, making recovery difficult. It is a race against time to try to recover as many coffins and corpses as possible, in fact, there is a fear of a worsening of the sea weather conditions.
Fortunately, in the days prior to the collapse, the area had been cordoned off after hearing strange creaks. As a result,there were no casualties. Victims, however, are the poor bodies floating in the water, some even carried ashore by seagulls, who took advantage of this misfortune.
The pain of relatives is tangible and the worry of not being able to get the bodies of their loved ones back is high.
The solidarity of the community is already making itself heard; online fundraising for the reconstruction of the cemetery has started and help has arrived from companies specialized in climbing works for the recovery of the bodies.
This place, of overwhelming beauty, has been hit once again and it is the task of the human being to try to preserve and respect nature in the best possible way and without presumption.
“Nature challenges us to be in solidarity and attentive to the custody of creation, also to prevent, as far as possible, the most serious consequences.” (Pope Francis)
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