Hurricane Isaac has made landfall on the southern coast of the United States, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is working to provide protection to the many Italians either living or vacationing in New Orleans or along the banks of the Mississippi River through a series of measures aimed at monitoring the situation. Rule no. 1 is to pay strict attention to the instructions of the local authorities.
The plan put in place by the MFA on Minister Terzi’s instructions, through theCrisis Unitand in conjunction with the Embassy in Washingtonand authorized consulates, includes:
– monitoringthe hurricane’s development, particularly regarding the areas that could be hardest hit;
– 24-hour response from Crisis Unit Operations Room and its on-site consular outposts;
– real-time updates of theViaggiareSicuri(Safe Travelling) website.
– warnings/precautions by text messagesent to Italian nationals who have registered for the service through the DoveSiamoNelMondo(where we are in the world) website (only in areas at risk), that provide helpful information and emergency numbers set up by local consulates.
The main recommendation to all Italians in the area remains to heed the instructions and advice of the local authorities and consular monitors, as the local authorities could implement evacuation measures that could facilitate transfer to safe areas. As always in such cases, the MFA remains at the disposal of the principal Italian travel and tour agency associations intending to signal groups of Italian nationals in difficulty.