SF supervisors vote to give Italy $100,000 for quake relief

The 7-4 vote largely split on political lines, with moderate Scott Wiener joining his progressive colleagues to support the donation.

Yesterday is the 27th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake and countries from all over the world came to San Francisco’s rescue, including Italy.

[...] we have from time to time come to the aid of cities throughout the world that have been devastated by earthquakes.

“The city of San Francisco should not be in the business of providing financial relief for natural disasters around the world,” Farrell said after the vote.

Peskin said that in 1999 the city gave $250,000 to Taipei, Taiwan, following the earthquake there, and in 2001 donated $100,000 apiece to the Salvadorian Emergency Committee and the Indo-American Trade and Commerce Council’s Gujarat Earthquake Relief Fund for earthquake relief efforts.

“Perhaps we develop a process for us to vet how much money and what type of natural disaster warrants a contribution from the city and county of San Francisco,” Cohen said.