(October 13, 2016) On the occasion of the European Week of Regions and Cities, which is held these days in Brussels, the regional administration of Friuli Venezia Giulia has promoted a series of initiatives for the 40th anniversary of the earthquake in Friuli and the 60th of the massacre of Marcinelle. The Regional Council was in fact present with a delegation led by President Franco Iacop. An historical and a photographic exhibitions were opened in the Belgian capital, at the representative office of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region and the Grand Place, the latter in collaboration with the Ente Friuli nel Mondo. “These days we are here, in Belgium – began the President Iacop – to recall two events that shook our remote region in a few years span: the earthquake that forty years ago, in 1976, hit Friuli, leaving nearly a thousand victims and destroying homes, factories, churches, museums, schools, infrastructure, putting an entire production system to its knees, and of which this initiative it is faithful witness, and the disaster in Marcinelle, in the coal mine of Bois du Cazier, where on August 8, 1956 perished 262 miners, of which 136 were Italian, seven of which our fellow countrymen”. “Our presence here in Belgium – added Iacop – wants to pay tribute to all those who lost their lives in a difficult historical moment, characterized by a heavy economic condition which did not escape the Friuli Venezia Giulia.” (Red)
