Montreal promises co-ordinated effort to help Italians after quake
Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre says the city is committed to helping families affected by Italy's devastating earthquake via a co-ordinated effort through the Red Cross.
Coderre said Francesco Miele, the city councillor for the Saint-Laurent borough, would be the point person between the city, the mayor's office and the Red Cross starting today.
Montreal City Hall flew the Italian flag at half-mast, as well as the city's own, following the magnitude 6.2 earthquake which shook central Italy.
"We all know that we have a vibrant community here and when our brothers and sisters suffer, we suffer too," Coderre said.
Local Italian community worried
Members of the Italian community in the Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough say the area is popular with immigrants from the Lazio, Umbria and Le Marche regions which were heaviest hit by the quake.
Pina Petraccone from the family-run Pasta Casareccia restaurant on Sherbrooke Street west said she found out about the earthquake when her brother called her late one night saying he was in the street amid rubble.
"He thought he wouldn't make it outside," Petraccone told CBC News.
She said she turned on Italian news channels and the night unfolded with "one bad thing after another."
Fabio Petraccone said the whole community is saddened and worried.
"We're a close community from that area," Petraccone said.
"Especially in NDG. People just up the street are from there, and have relatives from there, so we're trying to get a hold of people back in Italy."
