By Jaideep Sarin, IANS,
L’Aquila (Italy) : Leaders of the world’s wealthiest countries gathered for the G8-G5 summit may not have the time to go sightseeing but their hosts have ensured that Italy’s famous tourist cities are never from their minds.
The buildings where the heads of G8 and G5 governments are staying have been given names like Venice, Turin and Florence. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, his wife Gursharan Kaur, two relatives and senior members of the Prime Minister’s Office are in the Florence building.
The visiting heads of states and their accompanying officials have been lodged in 19 buildings that have been converted into virtual hotels with nearly 1,000 rooms. They are all in the Scuola Sottouficiali campus of the Guardia da Finanzia, the Italian financial police, at Coppito near here.
L’Aquila was hit by a major earthquake this April. Under a contingency plan to evacuate the delegates in case of another big quake during the summit in this tremor-prone area, the complex of a police institute in Rome, about 100 km away, has been kept ready. There were two minor tremors here Wednesday.