Italy quake "virtually destroyed" some towns
06 Apr 2009 11:50:40 GMT
Source: Reuters
ROME, April 6 (Reuters) - The earthquake that struck central Italy on Monday "virtually destroyed" entire towns and left some 15,000 buildings off-limits, the speaker of Italy's lower house of parliament Gianfranco Fini said.
06 Apr 2009 12:41:30 GMT
Source: Reuters
ROME, April 6 (Reuters) - The death toll in the earthquake that struck central Italy on Monday has risen to more than 90, rescue workers were quoted saying by Italy's ANSA news agency.
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Italy's worst earthquake in nearly 30 years strikes city of L'Aquila
06 Apr 2009 14:49:00 GMT
Source: British Red Cross Society - UK
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6 April 2009
In the early hours of 6 April 2009, a powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 6.3 on the Richter scale struck the city of L'Aquila in central Italy, 120 km northeast of Rome.
According to the Italian Red Cross at least 40 people have been killed, 400 injured and eight remain unaccounted for. The numbers of dead and injured are expected to grow. Tens of thousands of people have become homeless in the city, which has a population of 70,000.
The Italian Red Cross rescue teams were on the scene of the disaster within an hour after the earthquake struck. It is presently scaling up personnel and equipment in the affected area to reinforce capacity for search and rescue, as well as meals and blankets for the survivors.
Italian Red Cross responds
The Italian Red Cross is responding with health, first aid, logistics and humanitarian relief. It also established a field hospital to relieve the burden on local health facilities, which are under an enormous strain. The Italian Red Cross has also set up mobile kitchens able to provide 10,000 meals a day. Two soup kitchens providing 200-400 meals a day have been set up to respond to the needs of L'Aquila hospital which is being evacuated.
Thirty-six ambulances from the Italian Red Cross are on rotation to evacuate injured people from L'Aquila to the hospitals in Tagliacozzo, Pescina and Avezzano and it is also evacuating an orphanage in San Gregorio and will ensure care is provided for all the children. Additionally, five psychological support teams from the Italian Red Cross are now operational on the ground.
With up to 10,000 buildings in the city expected to be badly damaged, if not destroyed, the Italian Red Cross foresees growing problems with shelter, warm clothes and food provisions for the survivors. "Once we have addressed the need to reinforce emergency healthcare in the region, the next major challenge, apart from urgent search and rescue, is to find a solution for the thousands of homeless survivors," said Tommasso Della Longa, head of communication for the Italian Red Cross.
Co-ordinating emergency response
Working in close co-ordination with the Italian Civil Protection, the Italian Red Cross has activated its national operations centre, as well as four regional ones, to effectively address the needs of the population.
In consultation with the Italian Red Cross the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is currently assessing what assistance can be best provided right now to supplement and support the efforts of the Italian Red Cross.
Pete Garratt, British Red Cross relief operations manager, said: "The Italian Red Cross has significant resources in emergency response and is currently able to deal with the situation effectively. We are monitoring the situation and should the scale of need continue to grow, with request for international assistance, we are ready to respond."
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Italy to hold quake funeral, rescuers dig in rubble
08 Apr 2009 12:00:22 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Quake death toll rises to 250, aftershocks continue
* First burial on Wednesday, state funeral on Friday
* Berlusconi tells victims "it's like camping"
* Damage estimated at 2-3 billion euros
(Adds estimate of damage, Berlusconi comments)
By Deepa Babington and Antonella Cinelli
L'AQUILA, Italy, April 8 (Reuters) - Italy prepared on Wednesday to begin burying some of the 250 people killed in medieval towns flattened by a quake, while rescuers hampered by aftershocks hunted for people buried alive in the rubble.
A mass state funeral for the victims and a national day of mourning are expected to be held on Friday, Italian officials said, although the first private service was due on Wednesday.
The death toll climbed overnight to 250 when rescuers pulled out 15 more bodies from the rubble. In Rome, Pope Benedict again prayed for the victims and said he would visit the area soon.
With about 17,000 people made homeless by the quake, Italy's worst in three decades, thousands of distraught people passed a fitful night in tent villages, terrified by strong aftershocks felt in mountainous Abruzzo and nearby Rome.
The strongest aftershock on Tuesday night toppled parts of the basilica and the station in the historic city of L'Aquila, which bore the brunt of the disaster. The 5.6 magnitude tremor killed one person and was felt in Rome, 100 km (60 miles) west.
"We're in shock because we have lost our loved ones, the town has been reduced to rubble with over 40 dead and lots of them were young, a whole generation cancelled out," said Antonella Massi in Onna, a village that once had 300 residents and was left with hardly a building untouched by the quake.
Some 20 tent camps and 16 field kitchens to house and feed 14,000 people were set up after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi declared a national emergency and sent troops to the area.
One estimate for insurers put the damage to Italy's economy, which is already reeling from the worst recession since World War Two, at between 2 billion and 3 billion euros (between $1.5 billion and $2.2 billion), in the context of overall economic output for Italy of about 1.5 trillion euros.
Berlusconi, turning down most foreign aid offers, has taken a typically hands-on approach, travelling to the disaster zone every day so far and promising survivors rapid help. Pollsters say this could further boost his already high popularity rating.
But the gaffe-prone premier risked appearing insensitive when he told one German television channel that the thousands of people living in tents "should look on it as a camping weekend".
GRIM EASTER
Officials say the quake will have a huge impact in a region which mostly lives off tourism, farming and family businesses.
Berlusconi vowed to build a whole new town near L'Aquila and Agriculture Minister Luca Zaia, visiting Onna, urged Italians to help the region's economy "by thinking of them when the holiday season begins and principally buying products from Abruzzo".
The survivors face a grim Easter weekend. With many local churches badly damaged, people prepared to celebrate the feast in makeshift chapels in the tent villages.
The government and hotel owners offered free shelter for the homeless in hotels on the Adriatic coast.
"Go to the coast. It's Easter, take a break and we will pay for it," Berlusconi told victims at a tent camp on Tuesday.
At least 250 bodies were being stored in a makeshift mortuary outside L'Aquila. On Tuesday night rescuers burst into applause when a 20-year-old woman was found alive 42 hours after the quake in the ruins of a four-storey building.
"A rescue like this is worth six months' work," said Claudio, a fire-fighter from Venice.
Many of the victims were students at L'Aquila's university, such as 24-year-old student and soccer player Giuseppe Chiavaroli, due to be buried on Wednesday in his hometown.
One fire-fighter from the port of Pescara who came to help rescue efforts collapsed in tears after unearthing the body of his stepdaughter, who was studying there.
Italian soccer teams said revenue from this weekend's matches would be sent to help victims. Universities, papers and TV channels took collections, while hotels provided thousands of cheap rooms for survivors and rescuers.
Police increased their patrols on the streets amid reports of looting of homes and shops. Some residents and experts said they were angry that even supposedly earthquake-proof modern buildings had collapsed.
"In California, an earthquake like this one would not have killed a single person," said Franco Barberi, head of a committee assessing quake risks at the Civil Protection Agency.
Monday's quake was particularly lethal because it struck shortly after 3:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) as residents slept.
Flattening houses, centuries-old churches and other buildings in 26 cities and towns, it was the worst since November 1980, when some 2,735 people died in southern Italy. (Writing by Philip Pullella and Stephen Brown; additional reporting by Antonio Denti and Rome bureau and Franziska Scheven in Berlin; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
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