News of the quake spread quickly around the world and was a headline story for a time, centering of on the town of L’Aquila, where the epicenter of the quake struck. The story in the UK at least ran for perhaps 3 days but failed to really cover the fact that the quake also affected many of the surrounding towns and villages many of which are still suffering today. In all about 70,000 people were affected and even today it is estimated that a frighteningly high proportion of that number remain homeless.

L’Aquila itself continues to effectively be a no go area, the authorities turning people away who try to get in to the centre. On the outskirts, as with many of the surrounding towns and villages, thousands of people are still living in tents, their livelihoods along with many of their loved ones have been lost, and those that do remain are left traumatized by not only the earthquake but the events that have unfolded since. Although a great deal has already been done to help, the promises of assistance from the Italian government are yet to really make a difference for most, whether this is simply the enormity of the task, the famous Italian bureaucracy at work, or more probably empty promises put forward by politicians, who can really say. What is known is that at the time of writing winter is setting in and snow is starting to fall in the region, especially in and around L’Aquila, one of the highest cities in Italy, not any time to be living in a tent.

Guido Gazzilli visited the region during the days after this terrible event and shot the images in this piece, later this month he will visit again to see the situation several months on and we will be updating this feature with his findings.