The damage from August's devastating earthquake in central Italy will amount to at least three to four billion euros, Civil Protection Fabrizio Curcio told a press conference a month after the disaster killed 297 people.
"The damage will not be less than three or four billion euros, a ball-park figure. I fear it will not be lower," he said. Premier Matteo Renzi told the same news conference that Curcio was being "prudent" and that the damage will not be under four billion euros. "The earthquake did not just strike in the areas where it claimed victims," Renzi said.
"It also created mayor damage in other areas". Curcio added that the construction of wooden homes for people made homeless by the quake "will take seven months at the most". Curcio said of the 3,000 displaced by the quake, 2,500 are currently living in temporary tent shelters.
"Our priority is to close the tent camps and this weekend there will be a significant reduction," he said.
Renzi said the country will rebuild the towns devastated by last month's earthquake in central Italy "as they were before, and more beautiful than before".
"Our goal, for first and second houses and for businesses, is to bring everything back to how it was before," Renzi said.
"The fact that a month has gone by has turned the spotlight away, but it doesn't take away the pain of the victims' families, and it's our duty to take charge of that," he said.
Earthquake reconstruction commissioner Vasco Errani said 15 million euros' worth of donations have been received via text message alone, more than that of the earthquake that struck Emilia-Romagna in 2012.
He said an "open data" system would be created to ensure transparency showing where donations from citizens, businesses, and foreign governments are applied.
Rebuilding efforts will incorporate anti-seismic standards capable of withstanding a 6.0-magnitude quake, he said.
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