The contribution of the Bari city police in the relief work in the earthquake zones is remarkable. But their intervention is proving valuable and irreplaceable even in the most delicate phase: that of reconstruction.
When the request for photogrammetric surveys of the monuments damaged by the earthquake came from Basilicata, the only one to immediately enter the operational phase was the photogrammetric unit of the Bari traffic police, the first police force in Italy to have such equipment and men suitable to make it work.
It is known that photogrammetry is a particular technique that allows to detect the measurements of objects, photographing them with particular devices. The achievable precision is 1 / 10,000 of the shooting distance. Photographs can be obtained both with cameras placed on the plane and with cameras placed on the mainland or on floating platforms. Among the advantages there are: the possibility of storing the three-dimensional image of the photographed object (in this case monuments or works of art) and detecting it. after some time. all the information you need: the speed of recovery, the possibility of detecting dangerous objects from a safe distance; the archiving of objective and continuous findings, therefore free from human filtering.
The importance of such a technique is therefore evident for an analysis of the damage caused by the earthquake and for the preparation of recovery projects for damaged buildings.
The team of the photogrammetric unit of prompt intervention, which left Bari, also for the immediate availability of the municipal administration, is made up of the policemen Gargano, Carella, Ranieri and Antelmi. They are directed by Eng. Antonlo Daddabbo, of the Institute of Architecture and Town Planning of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Bari.
The first contact with the operational area was the Tricarico center. The surveys were carried out ("while the earth continued to tremble", as the oldest policeman, Gargano says) at the church of San Francesco and the convent of S. Chiara.
Then, on the indications of the Superintendency for Monuments of Basilicata, the team moved to Pignola. Here, in addition to the clock tower, reliefs were made to the Pantano church.
Engineer D'Addabbo (who accompanied the police in the area for the first four days, while the others remained and their return is not planned for the moment) says: "Entering this church we had the feeling that the weather he had stopped. On the altar there was still the chalice and the ampoules with water and wine; the Gospel opened on the lectern. While the firemen carried out the surveys, I opened the door. We thought we were in an uninhabited center: l the opening of the church called everyone to the appeal and a kind of pilgrimage began ".
After Pignola the unit moved to Abriola, a village located at an altitude of 1,800 meters: it was reached by passing the Sellata ski slope and on a road covered with snow and ice. The mayor accompanied them to the Mother Church, whose bell tower will almost certainly have to be demolished. The people of the village are worried about the heavy bell falling inside the bell tower. The traffic police carried out carpet surveys of the entire building.
In Pignola the police team also returned on the day of the Immaculate Conception to continue the interrupted work. Reliefs have been made to the matrix church (also the bell tower is unsafe) to the church of San Donato and to another overlooking the square in front of the town hall.
In the first four days in the intervention area, the brigade team impressed 264 plates for eight monuments, a considerable average. In the university's architecture institute, thanks to other volunteers, the translation of photographic information into graphic information has started.
If one day the historical monuments of some destroyed countries can continue to revive, it will also be due to the silent work of four city policemen from Bari.

Liborio Lojacono