Couchsurfing in an emergency

Couchsurfing is a great way to meet people and learn firsthand about the culture of the country you’re travelling to. But Italian couchsurfers showed that the network can offer something more than free accommodation to foreign travelers.

 Following Tuesday’s 5.8-magnitude deadly earthquake that  shook northern Italy, killing seventeen people and tearing down entire city- centers,  in the province of Modena, in the Emilia Romagna region, thousands of people were forced to leave their homes. The Italian Civil Protection set up a large tent camp for the earthquake survivors but other volunteering organizations and city administrations invited inhabitants from the nearby towns to open their homes to survivors. The Italian Couchsurfing network immediately understood the urgent need for accommodation and set up a special group where people can offer up their homes or apartments to help the thousands of people who were displaced by the earthquake.

Unfortunately the majority of people whose houses have been damaged or even destroyed by the earthquake refuse to leave the area. Many have set up their own tents in parking lots, public parks or even in the gardens of their neighbors. Many survivors are afraid of burglaries and setting up a tent at a safety distance from their damaged houses, allows them to keep an eye on their properties, giving them a sense of control in a moment when there is no control whatsoever.