Residents forced to abandon Sicilian homes teetering on crumbling cliff edge
Homes and businesses destroyed by landslide in Italy
- A massive landslide in Niscemi, Sicily, destroyed homes and businesses, leading to the evacuation of about 1,500 of the town’s residents.
- The disaster, triggered by a ferocious storm, caused a four-kilometre stretch of hillside to collapse, with buildings slipping into the void and others developing severe cracks.
- Local pizzeria owners, Benedetta Ragusa and Toni Rinnone, lost their home and are fighting to save their business, salvaging equipment as the ground continued to shift beneath them.
- Despite a long history of landslides in the area, including a major one in 1997, warnings about the town's unstable foundations were not acted upon due to legal disputes and bureaucracy.
- The public prosecutor's office has launched an investigation into the negligent disaster, while authorities are working to stabilise the area and rebuild, with no lives lost.
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