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Italian government to organize sea cruises for earthquake survivors
May 29, 2009, 14:34 GMT
L'Aquila, Italy - After telling Italian earthquake survivors they should think of their make-shift tent shelters as a 'camping' experience, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Friday said the government plans to offer them sea cruises.
'We are organizing a series of holidays in the Adriatic Sea and looking into the possibility of Mediterranean cruises on which to send entire families and youngsters,' Berlusconi said, accoring to the ANSA news agency.
The 72-year-old billionaire-turned-politician, who in his youth worked as a crooner on cruise ships, made the remarks during a visit to L'Aquila, the capital of the central Abruzzo region that was devastated in April's earthquake.
Berlusconi mostly won praise in Italy for his active, on-site role in co-ordinating rescue efforts in the aftermath of the earthquake, in which nearly 300 people were killed, and tens of thousands left homeless.
He made the 'camping' remarks during one of those early visits to L'Aquila, telling survivors they should overcome their shock by thinking 'positively'.
The Italian government on Thursday said it will invest over the next few years some 3 billion euros (4.1 billion dollars), out of a approved total of some 8 billion euros, destined for infrastructure projects to rebuild Abruzzo.
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