# Moving to Ofena



## maisie21 (May 27, 2008)

Hi
To everyone who is already living in Abruzzo and those who are still in the planning stages.
We are currently waiting for our house in Ofena to be repaired as it suffered quite a lot of damage in the earthquake.
Our plan was to move in April this year but we have now had to delay that until next year with the possibility of taking a caravan across to sleep in until the damage has been repaired.
Unfortunately it is a slow process although our architects are quoting obscure laws to the comune to try and speed up the process.
If anyone has any useful advice it would be gratefully recieved.
Many thanks
Judy


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## pugwashington (Dec 20, 2008)

maisie21 said:


> Hi
> To everyone who is already living in Abruzzo and those who are still in the planning stages.
> We are currently waiting for our house in Ofena to be repaired as it suffered quite a lot of damage in the earthquake.
> Our plan was to move in April this year but we have now had to delay that until next year with the possibility of taking a caravan across to sleep in until the damage has been repaired.
> ...


Great minds think alike was going to post new thread today!!!

Pehaps we should call it the trials and tribulations of people trying to move to and live in Ofena. Think they were a bit gestapo like in closing it down - I thought thread was always on topic dealing with problems encountered in the process of moving to ofena. but never mind. If this blog does not work out I guess we could use my Ofena website blog? Maybe we are not using the site here the way they would like - perhaps it is just for quick questions and answers. What do you think move blog or stay?

How is your project going? Mine finally seems to have some activity to it. I am however having some concerns re what they are planning to do. Unlike your house the damage to mine for the most part is superficial - however it is a category E by virtue of the tower. The guys from civile protectzione told me very categorically that it had to be demolished and new 4 walled structor built in its place as it is in a earthquake hot zone in terms of layout of house. They were very insistent on that BUT they did not write this down. (They were all three specialists in siesmology engineering) Now of course the engineer I have to use by virtue of my neighbour says it can be repaired. Which to be fair is the cheapest rout. But given the lecture I had from the civile protectzione guys about how dangerous it would be to do what they propose leaves me more than a bit worried. I have tried to tell them what has been told to me and by whom - to no avail. I dont think they believe me. I have said demolish it and make the top of the house safe and I will pay for any rebuild when i have the money but that doesnt seem to be possable. So I guess I have no choice but to let them do what they think best and pay for the stuff I have been told should be done myself. just seems a waste of public money but nothing I can do apparently.

I was going to go on holiday to Ofena in Sept but now think it advisable to stay away from house until work gets done - theoretically the arcitects think no reason work could not be done next spring. Practically the commune is comming up with every excuse they can think of to reject projects at the moment as they have not got any money to do the work according to Gianni.

Pam


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## Barry (Jan 28, 2008)

Last I saw less than a million euros had been allocated to Ofena so far. Based on some of the estimates I've seen that might repair 10 houses?


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## maisie21 (May 27, 2008)

pugwashington said:


> Great minds think alike was going to post new thread today!!!
> 
> Pehaps we should call it the trials and tribulations of people trying to move to and live in Ofena. Think they were a bit gestapo like in closing it down - I thought thread was always on topic dealing with problems encountered in the process of moving to ofena. but never mind. If this blog does not work out I guess we could use my Ofena website blog? Maybe we are not using the site here the way they would like - perhaps it is just for quick questions and answers. What do you think move blog or stay?
> 
> ...


Hi Pam
Nice to hear from you again.

Sorry to hear that you are also still having problems trying to get the work started on your property.
We are in the same boat, at present we are waiting to hear from the Architect-we have now got two working on our project. They were also getting every excuse under the sun from the Comune as to why they could not go ahead with the repairs. One of the excuses was that they needed the compliance of every owner - if the houses were joined on to each other- to agree to the works and then submit the plans as a joint venture. Our architect had liaised with our neighbours but they have got a derelict building adjoining theirs- no one knows whether the owners are still alive!!- and the comune were using that as their excuse to delay passing the plans. However, one of our architects knew of some obscure Italian law that states that if the property to be repaired covers an area of 50% or more of the total area then they can go ahead. Both of our properties cover 51% so we are just waiting now.
We were going over in October but we will wait until we get some definite information and if needs be will pop over for meetings.
Regardless of that we are still planning our move for April next year even if it means buying a caravan and sleeping in that at night.

As to starting another forum site, perhaps it might be best to wait and see whether this one picks up,if it doesn't we should have one covering Ofena, Carrufo and the immediate surrounding areas so that we can all share our thoughts and opinions.
Judy.:typing:


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