ITALY: Rescue efforts continue through the night in quake hit L'Aquila

Record ID: 809469

  • Title: ITALY: Rescue efforts continue through the night in quake hit L'Aquila
  • Date: 7th April 2009
  • Summary: L'AQUILA, ITALY (APRIL 6, 2009) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SCENES) VARIOUS EXCAVATOR AT COLLAPSED BUILDING AND RESCUE WORKERS RESCUE WORKERS MOVING TOWARDS RUBBLE AND DIGGING WITH THEIR HANDS SLIPPERS RESCUE WORKER WATCHING RESCUE WORKERS PREPARING TO REMOVE A BODY BOOKS POLICEMAN LOCAL PEOPLE WATCHING VARIOUS OF RESCUE WORKERS CARRYING A CORPSE RESCUE WORKERS CHECKING CORPSE COVERED IN WHITE SHEET MORE OF RESCUE WORKERS CARRYING CORPSE AMBULANCE LEAVING WITH CORPSE EXCAVATOR AT SITE
  • Embargoed: 22nd April 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVA28YHRS3X4FO0WWW2SVLI79TH0
  • Story Text: Rescue workers continue to labour through the night and remove a corpse from the rubble of collapsed 5 story building in L'Aquila.
    Rescue efforts continued through Monday night (April 6) after a powerful earthquake struck central Italy early in the morning, killing more than 130 people, making up to 50,000 homeless and flattening entire medieval towns while residents slept.
    As rescue workers combed through the rubble for survivors and rushed to set up tents for the homeless before night fell, officials warned the death toll could rise further and declined to estimate the number of missing. Most of the dead were in L'Aquila, a 13th century mountain city about 100 km (60 miles) east of Rome, and nearby towns and villages in the Abruzzo region. The quake struck shortly after 3.30 a.m. (0130 GMT) on Monday and aftershocks rattled the area throughout the day.
    Abruzzo's regional government said more than 130 people were confirmed dead, some 16 hours after the quake struck with a magnitude of between 5.8 and
    3. ANSA news agency quoted hospital sources as saying more than 150 people had died.
    Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi cancelled a trip to Moscow and declared a national emergency, freeing up funds for aid and rebuilding. But he also appeared on the defensive about reports that officials shrugged off a warning about the quake weeks ago.
    Flying in to the disaster zone, Berlusconi told reporters that now was the time to concentrate on relief efforts and said the predictability of earthquakes could be discussed.
    Civil Protection Department officials said up to 50,000 people may have been made homeless in some 26 cities and towns. More than 1,500 people were injured and thousands of houses, ancient churches and buildings collapsed or were damaged.
    Earthquakes can be particularly dangerous in parts of Italy because so many buildings are centuries old. About 2,700 people died in an earthquake in the south in 1980.
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