Italian earthquake: more deadly tremors could follow, experts warn
More deadly earthquakes could follow the huge tremor which has killed at least 150 people and injured 1,500 in central Italy, experts have warned.

By Gordon Rayner and agencies
Last Updated: 7:45PM BST 06 Apr 2009

An aerial view of a church in L'Aquila whose dome collapsed during the earthquake

The earthquake that hit the Abruzzo region at 3.32am happened on a faultline where tremors are common, meaning the 6.3 magnitude event may not be the last.

Up to 50,000 people have been left homeless in L'Aquila, around 60 miles east of Rome, and in surrounding villages, with up to 15,000 buildings destroyed or damaged beyond repair.

Hundreds of survivors are still thought to be trapped under the rubble, and a desperate search and rescue mission is ongoing.

The Italian president, Silvio Berlusconi, has declared a state of emergency and thousands of hotel rooms in the area have been requisitioned to provide shelter for those who have been displaced.

Mr Berlusconi has also called together the country's leading seismologists to advise on whether more major shocks could follow.

John McCloskey, a professor of geophysics at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, said: "Earthquakes like this frequently trigger other earthquakes in the region. After the Umbria and Marche earthquakes in Italy in 1997 there was a sequence of eight events higher than magnitude five in the following two months."

A destroyed students' home in L'Aquila

Roger Musson of the British Geological Survey in Edinburgh said the Apennine mountains were a hotspot for large 'quakes, and an event of this magnitude "is not really a surprise".

In the last century, five big earthquakes on or around the spine of Italy have claimed around 34,000 lives. Monday's event was the third major 'quake in less than 12 years in a radius of just 90 miles.

Gianfranco Fini, speaker of Italy's lower house of parliament, said: "Some towns in the area have been virtually destroyed in their entirety."


Nuns walk past a collapsed house in Onna, a small town about 10 kilometres from L'Aquila, epicentre of the earthquake

Civil protection department officials said the damage extended to 26 cities and towns.

Angela Palumbo, 87, from L'Aquila, said: "I woke up hearing what sounded like a bomb. We managed to escape with things falling all around us. Everything was shaking, furniture falling. I don't remember ever seeing anything like this in my life."


Relatives of earthquake victims stand near coffins in Onna

Many buildings in the area date back to the Renaissance and stood no chance against the 20 to 30-second tremor.

Part of a university halls of residence and a hotel were among the buildings that collapsed in L'Aquila.

Parts of L'Aquila's main hospital were evacuated because they were at risk of collapse, and only two operating rooms were in use. Bloodied victims waited in hospital hallways or in the courtyard and many were being treated in the open. Emergency workers are setting up field hospitals in the area to compensate.

Evacuees have been converging on an athletics field on the outskirts of L'Aquila where a makeshift tent camp is being set up. Civil protection officials distributed bread and water to people who lay on the grass next to heaps of their belongings.

Civil protection official Agostino Miozzo said the aim was to give everyone shelter by nightfall.

"This means that the we'll have several thousand people to assist over the next few weeks and months," he told Sky Italia.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it had had no reports so far of any Britons being killed or injured.

The last major earthquake to hit central Italy was a 5.4-magnitude tremor which struck the south-central Molise region on Oct 31, 2002, killing 28 people, including 27 children who died when their school collapsed

Seismologist predicted L’Aquila quake

http://www.euronews.net/2009/04/06/seismologist-predicted-l-aquila-quake/

An Italian seismologist predicted a major earthquake around L’Aquila, just weeks before the disaster struck. However, he was reported to the authorities for spreading panic.

The first tremors in the region were felt in mid-January and continued at regular intervals, creating a growing alarm in the city.

When questioned on whether the government heeded the warnings, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi went on the defensive. “It is impossible to predict something like this,” he said. “There is no one who can say when the next shock will come, in the next hours or coming days.”

Vans with loudspeakers drove round the town warning residents to prepare for a major earthquake, a move which incensed the mayor.

Giampaolo Giuliani, the scientist who made the discovery, said: “The instrument we used identified the point and we saw the seismic precursor, a sign that a quake is on the way within 6 to 24 hours.”

Meanwhile, as the rescue work continues, the question as to whether the government correctly safeguarded its citizens remains unanswered.

If I were president, I'd give Italy roughly $50,000 in aid.

crap, I didn't even think of aftershocks.

Aftershocks hinder rescue as Italy quake toll passes 200
By Deepa Babington and Antonella Cinelli,
ReutersApril 7, 2009 10:44 AM

A child is comforted by a red cross rescuer in a refugee camp setup just outside the Abruzzo capital L'aquila, epicentre of an earthquake earlier in the day on Monday.Photograph by: Filippo Monteforte, AFP/Getty Images

L'AQUILA, Italy - The death toll from a devastating earthquake in central Italy rose to 207 on Tuesday and aftershocks hampered the race to dig possible survivors out of the debris.

Rescuers worked under floodlights through the night and thousands of people whose homes were wrecked sheltered in tents and cars.

"The hope of finding anyone under the rubble now is very small," said a civil protection agency official at a camp set up outside L'Aquila, the historic mountain city shattered by the quake.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said 207 people were now confirmed as dead in the worst quake to strike Italy in 30 years. Of some 1,500 people injured, about 100 were in serious condition.


Rescue workers view destroyed houses the morning after an earthquake struck the Italian village of Onna April 7, 2009.
Photograph by: Chris Helgren, Reuters

The new aftershocks struck fear into people, with residents running out of tents screaming and crying after a particularly strong tremor. Buildings shook and masonry fell onto the streets but no new injuries were reported.

"We advise people not to go back into their homes," Berlusconi told a news conference in L'Aquila, adding that rescue efforts to find people still alive will go on for at least two more days.

An aftershock on Tuesday which hit at about 11:26 a.m. (0926 GMT) and registered magnitude 4.7, was felt as far away as Rome, where furniture swayed on the upper floors of buildings.

The estimated number of homeless was revised to 17,000 from a previous 50,000 and the number of missing was under 50.

Shows of solidarity came from home and abroad. Italian soccer teams said revenue from this weekend's matches would be sent to help victims. Universities and newspapers throughout the country took collections.

Officials said the quake would severely affect the region's economy, much of which is based on tourism, agriculture and small, family-run businesses.

A camp was set up on a sports field outside medieval L'Aquila but there were not enough tents and most people spent the night in their cars as temperatures in the mountainous, windy area hovered near freezing.

"I can't even bear to think of the future," said Angela Camon, 37, who spent the night in a tent with her husband and a bible. "There is nothing to go back to."

Berlusconi, who has declared a national emergency, visited L'Aquila again to survey the damage and promised residents the government will help them rebuild their homes.

Rescuers and volunteers working by the glare of floodlight and using mechanical diggers and their bare hands searched through the night for survivors. Sniffer dogs aided the hunt.

Occasionally there was hope and exhilaration.

More than 24 hours after the quake, emergency workers dug out two students who had been trapped under rubble.

The quake struck shortly after 3:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) on Monday, catching residents in their sleep and flattening houses, centuries-old churches and other buildings in 26 cities and towns.

"It is a serious disaster. Now we must rebuild and that will require huge sums of money," said Berlusconi, whose government already faces a high deficit and huge public debt.

Berlusconi has pledged to seek hundreds of million of euros in EU disaster funds.

With some two-thirds of the buildings ruined in L'Aquila, alone, each successful rescue prompted celebrations by anxious relatives and emergency workers, many of them volunteers.

A fireman recounted how he pulled a boy alive from the mangled remains of his house after a day-long search.

"All we could see was his head sticking from the rubble, his entire body was buried. We kept digging, picking piece by piece of debris and we finally managed to get him out — when we did the fatigue was great but so was our joy," he said.

© Copyright (c) Reuters

That's not even a day's supply of Aqua Velva.

Death toll in Italy earthquake rises to 260
The death toll has risen to 260 in the devastating Italian earthquake, as hope dissipates for rescuers searching the rubble for more survivors.

08/04/2009 9:04:31 AM
CTV.ca News Staff

Rescue teams continued to comb L'Aquila, one of the towns hardest hit by the quake, along with several other communities in central Italy.

The magnitude 6.3 quake hit Monday morning, flattening houses, buildings and businesses.

Among the 260 dead are 16 children said Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi at a news conference on Wednesday. He said nine bodies still need to be identified.

Berlusconi said 17,700 people were left homeless by the quake and are being housed in tent cities, and another 10,000 are being put up in hotels, bringing the total to almost 28,000.

CTV's London Bureau Chief Tom Kennedy said rescue crews had reason to cheer on Tuesday when they pulled a 98-year-old survivor from the rubble of her home.

"She was found more than 30 hours after the original earthquake and she was absolutely fine. There was space in the area where she was trapped and she spent her time crocheting," Kennedy told Canada AM from L'Aquila.

"Sadly these types of stories are becoming more and more rare."

Four students are believed to be among the dead. They were trapped in the rubble of the local university. By Wednesday, crews were no longer sifting through the rubble by hand, but were using heavy machinery to move to remains of the crumbled dormitory.

"Unless there is a miracle, I've been told (by rescuers) that they probably are dead," university rector Ferdinando Di Orio told The Associated Press.

Following the initial, powerful tremor on Monday, there have been roughly 430 aftershocks. On Tuesday evening, a strong aftershock dumped debris on residents and rescuers who were trying to find the missing students.

As rescue workers continued searching through the debris, they pulled a young woman alive from a collapsed building about 42 hours after the main quake struck the mountainous region.

Eleonora Calesini, a 20-year-old student, was found alive Tuesday in the ruins of the five-story building in central L'Aquila.

Kennedy said the struggle to find the remaining missing quake victims is taking a toll -- but every time a survivor is found there is a "euphoric" sense of relief.

That happened on Wednesday when 20-year-old Eleonora Calesini, who had been trapped for 42 hours, was pulled alive from a collapsed building in L'Aquila.

"You cannot imagine the hard work, the really visceral hard labour of digging away in this rubble trying to find survivors, so every time it happens it really is remarkable," Kennedy said.

People who have lost their homes are for the most part being sheltered in 20 tent cities in the mountainous region.

Field kitchens and medical supplies were brought in to care for the displaced.

Man it's a good thing you never act like a jackass.

Well I'll be buggered. Surely you're not insinuating that giving only $50,000 after such a disaster is jackassery? No way. Impossible. A dollar for every person left homeless. That should suffice, no?

Aftershocks add to Italy quake misery
By Gunther Kern, AFPApril 9, 2009 8:01 AM


Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi embraces a woman who lost her home to an earthquake in L'Aquila yesterday.
Photograph by: Livio Anticoli, Reuters

L'AQUILA, Italy - Jarring aftershocks sowed panic in Italy's earthquake zone Thursday, terrifying the thousands of homeless victims sheltering in crowded tent camps as the death toll reached 278.

Two lifeless bodies were pulled from the ruins of a student dormitory in the centre of the Abruzzo capital L'Aquila early in the morning after a night punctuated by three powerful aftershocks.

Hundreds of people could be seen sleeping in their cars, and soldiers were in their trucks with the engines running as the early spring temperature hovered around five degrees Celsius.

Monday's quake has claimed 278 lives according to the latest toll reported by Italian television, with between 20 and 30 people still missing and 179 of the injured in a serious condition, according to police.

Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said the search for survivors would be extended by two days to Sunday, though hopes were fading fast and aftershocks were complicating efforts by destabilizing the search-and-rescue sites.

The strongest overnight aftershock registered 5.2 on the Richter scale and was felt as far away as Rome, a two-hour drive to the southwest.

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano was expected in the devastated city later in the day, after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi made three visits to the region in as many days.

At an athletics track converted into a tent village sheltering some 400 quake survivors Nicola Tudisco, a clown wearing an orange hat and a large white apron over baggy trousers, was handing out chocolate eggs and Easter bunnies to the children.

"It's the old people who really need help," he said, however. "They're the most traumatised. The children ... have had a rude shock, but they can also play and forget about it," Tudisco told AFP.

Nearby, some Franciscan monks were converting a tent into a makeshift chapel, where they planned to celerbrate a mass for Maundy Thursday, the Christian feast day commemorating the Last Supper of Christ.

Some 30 tent cities dot the disaster zone sheltering nearly 18,000 people.

On Wednesday, the first funerals were held as plans were announced for a national memorial service for those who lost their lives in the disaster.

Catholic tradition normally prohibits funeral masses on Good Friday, but the L'Aquila diocese has received special permission from the Holy See to go ahead with the observance, to be led by Vatican number two Tarcisio Bertone.

The service will be held in a suburb of the Abruzzo capital L'Aquila where most of the bodies are lying in a hangar at a police barracks and training centre.

Berlusconi's government has estimated $3 billion euros will be needed to repair or rebuild some 10,000 buildings damaged in the quake.

Some 7,000 police, soldiers and other emergency service personnel and volunteers were taking part in the earthquake operation, including psychologists offering grief and trauma counselling.

Outside the area's main hospital - condemned and evacuated because of damage from the quake - doctors performed more than 280 operations in less than 36 hours, an official told AFP.

The most serious involved cranial, pelvic and chest fractures as well as internal bleeding, heart problems and epileptic seizures, Mario Caroli said.

Donations have been pouring into special bank accounts set up to help the survivors and the Italian Senate's 315 members decided to have $1,000 euros deducted from their salaries for the cause.

Speaking just days before Christians mark their Easter holiday, Pope Benedict XVI said he would visit the disaster zone "as soon as possible" but a Vatican spokesman told AFP that such a visit would not take place within the next fortnight.

© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service

The most awesome thing in this is Silvio Berlusconi telling sheltered people to think of this as a camping trip and to have fun and go to the beach. The guy's classy.

Madonna is adding another zero to that, so you lose. Sucks brah.

Damn you.

I was actually going to reply today, "If I were the president, I'd give roughly 10% of what Madonna gave out of her personal check book."

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20090406/twl ... f21e0.html


Scientist gagged over quake warning

An Italian scientist was reported to authorities for spreading panic after he warned a major quake would strike L'Aquila, it has emerged.Weeks before disaster struck the city and killed more than 90 people, seismologist Giacchino Giuliani had warned of an impending disaster - but his forecast was dismissed by the government which said it had no scientific foundation.

Tremors were first felt in the region in mid-January and continued at regular intervals, creating mounting alarm in the medieval city.

A month ago, vans with loudspeakers drove around the town telling locals to evacuate their houses after Mr Giuliani, from the National Institute of Astrophysics, predicted a large quake was on the way.

However, this reportedly infuriated the local mayor. Mr Giuliani, who based his forecast on concentrations of radon gas around seismically active areas, was reported to police for "spreading alarm". He was also forced to remove his findings from the web.

Earlier, a defensive Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi gave a news conference on the quake and dodged questions about the whether his government had properly safeguarded the population in light of Mr Giuliani's warning.

Mr Berlusconi said now was the time to concentrate on relief efforts and "we can discuss afterwards about the predictability of earthquakes".

On March 31, Italy's Civil Protection agency held a meeting in L'Aquila of the Major Risks Committee to reassure the townspeople.

A statement issued on the eve of the meeting said: "The tremors being felt by the population are part of a typical sequence ... (which is) absolutely normal in a seismic area like the one around L'Aquila."

It added that the agency saw no reason for alarm but was nonetheless effecting "continuous monitoring and attention".