Doing business in an earthquake zone

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 16:23:43 +0000
Num. 36

Will, pragmatism and creativity

The earthquakes of May 2012 extensively and violently damaged the most productive district of our province - the upper Ferrara area which houses most of the industrial activity of the area.

The earthquake has had a heavy impact on the local production system. Never before has a territory with such high industrial interests (alone it accounts for nearly 2% of the national gdp) been hit by an earthquake. In the days immediately after the earthquake there was a widespread feeling of bewilderment among businesses, but this was soon transformed into an extraordinary will to respond. It has been a great test of collective will and pragmatism, tenacity and re sourcefulness; collaboration between businesses, improvised but effective relocation, sometimes to just a few hundred meters from the damaged buildings. All makeshift but functional solutions, in order to maintain the hope of a return to normality in the shortest possible time. Over the months it could be said that there has been an improved and positive level of collaboration with the institutions, although there have been, and still remain, critical aspects - mainly related to certain excessively bureaucratic procedures, delays and setbacks. However, thanks to the constructive dialogue that now has been established between associati ons and institutions it was possible to modify and integrate the measures taken as closely as possible to suit the needs of the companies. One of the companies involved is Teknotubi of Sant'Agostino, producers of rigid and flexible metal pipes, 60 employees and an annual revenue of 10-12 million euros. The owner, Gianluca Tassinari, states that already after the first shock of May 20th they started to get the workshops ready to restart. They had to resume production in time to meet market demands: customers were not prepared to wait so prompt delivery remained a mandatory requirement. They are still not yet operating at 100%, but have chosen to continue and put all their energy into their work.