La Chaîne du Bonheur collected nearly 13 million francs after the severe bad weather which hit Valais, Ticino and Graubünden at the start of summer. This amount makes it possible to provide emergency aid to people who lost almost everything in the floods.
Antonietta Sido, 70, returns for the first time to her old neighborhood of Sous-Géronde, in Sierre. After forty-seven years spent in his apartment, memories and emotion assail him.
“The apartment was spacious, the family from Italy often came to spend the night here. Today, I no longer have enough room to accommodate them,” she explains, with a tight throat, on Thursday in the 7:30 p.m. on RTS.
>> Reread: No one anticipated these events, explains Raphaël Mayoraz a month after the bad weather in Valais
Help welcome
Faced with this disaster, the help of Swiss Solidarity was crucial for Antonietta Sido, who lost everything in the floods. With the 8,000 francs received, she was able to buy what she needed to resume a life as normal as possible. “This sum came at a time when we really needed it,” she says.
Aware of the importance of this outpouring of solidarity, Antonietta Sido wanted to express her gratitude to the donors by recording a message for the Chaîne du Bonheur social networks.
More than 200 families helped
According to Jean-Marc Richard, Swiss Solidarity ambassador, emergency aid proves decisive in this type of situation. “We often forget that it is in emergencies that people need help the most. Then, everyone rebuilds themselves in one way or another, and for me, this not only saves people, but also lives,” he explains.
One million francs has already been paid to cover immediate needs, benefiting 250 families.
Corinne Bahizi, communications manager for Chaîne du Bonheur, specifies that this aid is now divided into two parts. It supports both transitional costs – rehousing and transport costs – and residual expenses which will not be covered by insurance.
However, financial aid cannot heal all wounds. For Antonietta Sido, the trauma remains raw. “At 70, I find it difficult to plan for the future, so I prefer not to think about it,” she confides.
Cédric Jordan/rehearsal
