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Published on 10/27/1997 All articles from this issue

Los Altos offers Italians hope and help after quake

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By Nadia Amer / Town Crier Staff Writer

In the aftermath of several earthquakes that have ravaged villages in Central Italy in recent months, killing 11 and permanently damaging the Christian shrine of Saint Francis of Assisi Basilica, local residents here are striving to make a difference.

Los Altos members of the Ananda Church of Self Realization in Palo Alto have helped to organize a relief effort they call Hopes and Homes for Italy.

We are involved in a rebuilding effort," said Asha Praver, Minister of the Ananda Church, "Our real intention is to persuade both residents and officials the benefit of rebuilding with wooden style housing, which is very different from the traditional stone building."

The Ananda Church, an international organization, operates a center in Nocera Umbra, along the 18-mile corridor that has been hardest hit by the quakes. According to Praver, the retreat has survived the barrage of unrelenting aftershocks because of the wooden structure.

"The house is fine, and except for a few things that fell off shelves, it has survived quite well," Praver said.

According to John Petrula, Los Altos resident and member of the Ananda Church since 1982, Donald Walters, founder of the Ananda Church, took the knowledge of building earthquake safe structures from California and built the Nocera Umbra retreat with those specifications.

But most of the local residents were not nearly so lucky. "There are all these people without homes now, many of them elderly," Petrula said. "Thousands of people are now living in tents because all these stone structures, which are very old and have no reinforcement, collapsed."

Italian seismologists have reported more than 3,000 aftershocks since the first quake hit the hillside region of Assisi on Sept. 26, making the rebuilding effort nearly impossible. But the clock is ticking and situation is becoming even more dire with the onset of Winter. The Central - Northern Appenine mountain area, renowned for its cold weather, "is not a pleasant place to be during the winter," Petrula said.

Hopes and Homes for Humanity is trying to remedy this situation. Because their structure was one of the few to survive the quake, members are working with Italian officials and the Italian Consulate in San Francisco to rebuild towns with wood instead of the traditional stone masonry.

"Rebuilding in stone is very slow," Petrula said. "Wood structures, those that would withstand sizable earthquakes, make more sense."

Send donations or contributions to Hope and Homes for Italy, c/o the Ananda Church of Self-Realization, 2171 El Camino Real, Palo Alto 94306, or call 323-3363 for more information.