Berlusconi’s ‘camping’ quip to quake victims

Silvio Berlusconi has done it again. The gaffe-prone Italian PM has said that the 20,000 homeless people living in tents and makeshift accommodation following Monday's deadly earthquake should treat their situation as a "camping weekend". The quip, which comes hot on the heels of a series of diplomatic faux-pas during the recent international summits, was made during an interview he gave on Tuesday to German TV.

Presumably in a misguided effort to reassure the Italian public, Berlusconi said the displaced victims "lacked nothing. They have medicaments. They have hot food. They have shelter for the night." As the Italian newspaper La Stampa put it recently, he has an "unrivalled ability to make a fool of himself".
 
The latest gaffe came as the death toll from Monday morning's earthquake in the Abruzzo region topped 250. The first funeral for a quake victim was due to take place on Wednesday ahead of a mass state funeral on Friday, which has also been declared an official day of mourning. Pope Benedict XVI is expected to travel to the region early next week.
 
The morale of rescue workers was boosted on Tuesday night when a 20-year-old woman was pulled out of the rubble alive, bringing the total number of people rescued to 150. Meanwhile the Italian authorities are under pressure to explain why warnings about the impending earthquake were largely ignored and why many modern buildings in and around the devastated city of L'Aquila were not built to withstand earthquakes. ·