[Source: CNN]
At least eight people have been confirmed dead after a landslide hit the Italian island of Ischia on Saturday, damaging buildings and obliterating transport infrastructure in its wake.
Five people are still missing, the governor of the Campania Prefecture office in southwest Italy told CNN Monday.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni declared a state of emergency on Sunday due to what she called “exceptional flood and landslide events,” following torrential rain in the Gulf of Naples.
Videos and images shared by local and national authorities showed the destruction in Ischia’s port town of Casamicciola Terme. The island lies off Italy’s coast, west of the city of Naples.
The governor of Campania, Vincenzo De Luca, said in a statement on Monday that the region had allocated around $4 million “to meet the most immediate needs relating to the Ischia landslide.”
He added the administration would “ensure adequate services for displaced families housed in temporary shelters.”
On Sunday, the governor told a news conference that homes on Ischia that were not up to building code were partly to blame for the damage, adding they must be demolished.
The Italian government also began distributing €2 million ($2.08 million) in aid and assistance to the local population affected by the landslide, according to a statement over the weekend.
