The European Union is to give Italy a record 494 million euros (702 million dollars) to rebuild the earthquake- stricken region of the Abruzzo, officials in Brussels said Thursday, according to dpa. The pay-out from the EU's solidarity fund, set up in 2002 to help member states deal with natural disasters, is the largest in the history of the fund and reflects the scale of the April 6 quake, European Commission spokesman Dennis Abbott said. It will be used to help the Italian authorities provide temporary housing for families who lost their homes in the quake, centred on the mediaeval city of L'Aquila, to remove rubble from the devastated area and to repair infrastructure. It will not be used to repair damage to private property. Three hundred people died and 1,500 were injured when the quake struck L'Aquila, causing over 10 billion euros' worth in damage. Many of the families who lost their homes in the quake are still living in tents on car-parks and industrial areas in and around the earthquake zone. The centre of L'Aquila is off limits to visitors. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has promised to help the victims. Earlier this month, he moved a summit of the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrial nations to L'Aquila in what he described as a show of solidarity with the distressed. But victims have criticized Berlusconi for not giving them more practical help. Some allege that government contracts for repairing the damage have been awarded to companies linked to the Mafia. The commission, the EU's executive, will keep strict control on where and how the EU money is spent, Abbott stressed. The EU aid package will have to be approved by EU member states and the European Parliament, with a decision expected in the autumn.
