L'Aquila, Italy  - After telling Italian earthquake survivors they
should think of their make-shift tent shelters as a "camping"
experience, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Friday said the
government plans to offer them sea cruises.

"We are organizing a series of holidays in the Adriatic Sea and looking
into the possibility of Mediterranean cruises on which to send entire
families and youngsters," Berlusconi said, accoring to the ANSA news
agency.

The 72-year-old billionaire-turned-politician, who in his youth worked
as a crooner on cruise ships, made the remarks during a visit to
L'Aquila, the capital of the central Abruzzo region that was devastated
in April's earthquake.

Berlusconi mostly won praise in Italy for his active, on-site role in
co-ordinating rescue efforts in the aftermath of the earthquake, in
which nearly 300 people were killed, and tens of thousands left
homeless.

He made the "camping" remarks during one of those early visits to
L'Aquila, telling survivors they should overcome their shock by
thinking "positively".

The Italian government on Thursday said it will invest over the next
few years some 3 billion euros (4.1 billion dollars), out of a approved
total of some 8 billion euros, destined for infrastructure projects to
rebuild Abruzzo.(dpa)