Italian Earthquake Damage Reaches 4 Billion Euros

(Corrects spelling of Maccaferri in first paragraph.)

The two earthquakes that hit northern Italy last month caused more than 4 billion euros in economic damage, Gaetano Maccaferri, president of employer lobby Confindustria for the Emilia Romagna region, said at a hearing before the Senate Industry Committee today.

About 600 industrial companies employing more than 12,000 workers were “directly damaged” by the quakes, with a loss estimated at about 2 billion euros, Maccaferri said. The area affected by the quake makes up about 1 percent of Italy’s gross domestic product.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chiara Vasarri in Rome at cvasarri@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jerrold Colten at jcolten@bloomberg.net