Hard Times for Lambs by sandra46
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Description
I met this lamb last September in Staffordshire: he had survived Eastertime, obviously. This photo has always given me a gloomy feeling, maybe because it was taken just before a storm. If you think, however, that it has something to do as a metaphor with what is follows, you're right. Sorry for the gloomy mood.
Last night we rocked a little in Padova, not for the earthquake in L'Aquila (The Eagle),a provincial capital in Abruzzo, Central Italy. It was a seismic swarm at about 10 o'clock with the epicenter at Bologna. Then at 3 in the morning, local time, there was a terrible earthquake with epicenter at L'Aquila, which has destroyed the city and the villages for a radius of 30 kms. There are more than 100 victim for sure, numberless wounded, an unknown number under the debris, and at least 50,000 refugees. It's a national disaster, as our Prime Minister said.
Unfortunately, the disaster was made worse by two factors: the fact that most villages and the city center of the provincial capital are medieval and never renovated according to anti-seismic criteria, and two, the fact that for 20 years the local government embezzled and stole money and didn't control that the new buildings were built according anti-seismic criteria. The new hospital, built only 5 years ago, collapsed completely. Moreover, the roads are still old, so the relief have trouble to reach the area, because the administrators of the region didn't care to make them new, and delayed the works to eat also from those plates. The chief of the region and its clique were sent to prison last year, but the dead don't care!
Abruzzo has always been an underdeveloped region, since Roman times, nurturing hardy shepherds and soldiers, and of course a land of emigration. In the 1960s the government promoted some development, and my father as a salesman sold tiles produced by one of the first factories of the region, in Teramo. The city was relatively new, but he said the the sheep still grazed on the main square the first years he went there. Now the region is in better economic health, importing Macedonian shepherds to repopulate the semi-abandoned villages in the mountains. Some of them were also victims of the quake. L'Aquila is high in the mountain, the Apennines, and on the Adricatic Sea-side of this backbone of Italy. Rome is on the other side, about 95 kms far.
Thank you for all the support you give me with your kind comments!
Comments (25)
Abatar
Perfect shot!! Great composition.
BessieB
A really moody but superb shot. Today is indeed a tragegy for Italy and its people. So very sad indeed.
glix70
I totally aggre with your mood and feeling about it.. Solidarity for all the "l'Aquila tand neiborhood" population... Great mood in the shot too perfect connected in b/w!!!
flora-crassella
wonderful image!!!!!
flavmel
Excellent shot! Sorry for this desaster!
Amosicho
Excellent work
jeroni
Excellent shot, fantastic W/B and details
Osipenkov
Excellent !!! B/W very beautiful!
MC-Jay-One
Fantastic shot, very good !
Miska7
Very nice scene. Great capture!
erlandpil
Great B/W picture erland
AndreiR
great composition and the whole mood!
armoric56
very nice capture!
jocko500
wonderful photo
Darkwish
Remarkable work! Really nicely done!
P3Design
Great dedication to the people in Italy. Most beautiful capture...
durleybeachbum
Excellent image for the occasion.
starone_angel
Great capture!
sema_fox
Excellent work!
junge1
Thank you for telling this story. It is a tragedy and it shows that corruption can occur anywhere in the world, not only here in the US. Your account is much more detailed than what one hears here in the US and your uploads reflects the mood. I have been to Carrara, Lucca, Florence, Voltairra, San Gimignano, Siena and Rome. When I first heard about this earthquake I was curious where it had occured. I have never been to L'Aguila. But the entire mountain region throughout Italy is so beautiful. Too bad that crooked politians pocketed the money that was slated for improving the integrity of the buildings. And it is a shame that so many people had to die because of this. Thanks for your detailed account!!!
beatoangelico
superb capture...excellent work..!!!
lick.a.witch
On the earthquake - My heart hurts for all those caught up in this tragedy and that a politician could actually tell those uprooted to treat their time in makeshift accomodation as a vacation leaves me speechless. As to your lamb image - it is full of atmosphere. A wonderful photograph. Bless
decie
Ah!!! Sunday dinner it would go down well with some mint sauce, nice mood capture.
magnus073
Excellent image and I'm so sorry for all the horrible troubles your area has had that you described. Knowing what your thoughts were behind this image were important
mariogiannecchini
Hai ragione , questa immagiane , forse per i toni , per la luce , sembra non promettere niente di buono. Nella tua uscita verso la campagna hai ,se non altro, respirato aria buona. E' quello che penso sempre mentre giro per campi e fossi.