What the few insurance policies against extreme events tell us about Italy

Out of a sample of more than 31 million properties in the country, only 4.9 percent are covered against risks of floods or earthquakes. Families and entrepreneurs believe that the state must deal with these calamities: but in this way the unpreparedness ends up being collective

After the flood disaster in Romagna, as every time such events repeat themselves, the media filled pages to document how the state has lagged behind a civil protection managed with technological networks such as in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, such as policy with the Conte government has dismantled the technical mission ad hoc created in 2016 at Palazzo Chigi against hydrogeological and seismic risks, and how resources allocated for this purpose continue to be mismanaged (21 billion from 2019 to 2023, adding up national, European and local funds), in the inability to concentrate them on priority projects instead of dispersing them in a thousand rivulets. However, it overlooks a central question. Compared to the state and politics, are Italians better? An unpleasant question, given that every time the death toll and billions of damages to businesses and jobs fall precisely on the populations. Central question, though. The answer is even more unpleasant than the questions. No, Italians are no better than politics, blind to catastrophes.