Bridge to withstand more than Messina earthquake - Salini

(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 22 - The planned suspension bridge across the Strait of Messina linking the island region of Sicily to mainland Italy in Calabria would withstand an earthquake greater than the one that flattened Messina and the surrounding area in 1908, Webuild CEO Pietro Salini said on Friday.
    "Suspension bridges are by definition more resistant to earthquakes than any other structure precisely because of the way they are built," Salini told ReStart on Rai 3.
    "If an earthquake like the one in Messina in the early 1900s were to occur today, a large part of the buildings there would collapse, but the bridge would remain standing," he added.
    "If there were to be a larger earthquake, only the bridge would remain standing." On December 28, 1908 an earthquake measuring 7.5 on today's Richter scale hit Sicily and Calabria with the epicentre in the Strait of Messina.
    The tremor and subsequent tsunami caused massive damage and killed up to 82,000 people.
    The CEO of the engineering group that leads the Eurolink consortium that won the tender to build the bridge also said it has been designed "to withstand wind gusts of up to 300 km/h, while the maximum recorded in the last 100 years is 100 km/h for a short period".
    Salini's comments came after opposition lawmakers raised doubts about the safety of the bridge during a recent question time with Transport and Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini.
    unscrupulous," Bonelli told Salvini.
    The government of Premier Giorgia Meloni has revived the project to build what would be the world's longest suspension bridge, which had been long delayed due to funding issues as well as fears of mafia infiltration and graft, and seismic and environmental concerns.
    The CEO of the Messina Strait Company, Pietro Ciucci, said last month that work may start this summer. (ANSA).