Ancient building's wall collapses in Pompeii, second in November

A wall in the archaeological site of Pompeii collapsed on Tuesday due to water infiltration and humidity, which was the second similar cases in November.

The wall, inside the garden of the so-called House of the Moralist, was 6 meters long and 70 centimeters high. It apparently came down for the heavy rains which have recently hit the region around Naples, state television Rai reported.

The tragedy follows the collapse of the ancient Gladiators' Room occurred a couple of weeks ago, one of the most precious parts of Pompeii which lies just several meters away from the House of the Moralist.

According to Pompeii's archaeological sites commissioner Jeannet Papadopulos, the area faces a concrete, daily threat. " Pompeii is fragile and if it continues to rain so all walls without external protection will be at risk as well," she warned.

Papadopulos however stressed that an intensive monitoring of the archaeological area had been launched and would be further strengthened.

"We are working hard to avoid other disasters but I cannot ascertain that nothing else will happen because the rains are unpredictable," added the commissioner.

The Cultural Heritage Minister Sandro Bondi said there is no need for "useless alarmism" and assured that no frescoes or artistic objects had been damaged.

Bondi explained that the wall that fell down was not original but was rebuilt after the original one was destroyed during the World War II.

Since the collapse of the Gladiators' Room, the minister said his personal office had been following very closely the situation.

Source: Xinhua