Disasters

Earthquake leaves at least 21 dead in central #Italy

Published

10 years ago

August 24, 2016

A magnitude 6.2 earthquake has struck central Italy, leaving at least 21 people dead and many others trapped under rubble, reports say.

Many of the dead were in the village of Pescara del Tronto which was levelled to the ground and there were fears the number could rise.

Much of the town of Amatrice was reduced to rubble and a family of four were feared dead nearby in Accumoli.

The quake hit at 03h36 (01h36 GMT), 100km (65 miles) north-east of Rome.

Although it struck at a shallow depth of 10km, its intensity was compared to the Aquila earthquake in April 2009 in which 309 people died. The epicentre was around Accumoli where several people died.

Some buildings in the capital shook for 20 seconds as the quake struck an area between the regions of Umbria, Lazio and Marche. It was felt from Bologna in the north to Naples in the south.

The highest casualties were reported in the small village of Pescara del Tronto, where ten people were reported dead, among them children. Twenty people have been taken to hospital. Two boys aged four and seven were pulled alive from the rubble of the house they had been staying in with their grandmother, Ansa news agency reported. Rescuers said they had been sheltering under a bed.

More damage was reported a short distance up the road in Arquata del Tronto.

Some of the worst damage was in the town of Amatrice, where at least five died and rescue efforts were under way to find survivors.

"The roads in and out of town are cut off. Half the town is gone. There are people under the rubble. There's been a landslide and a bridge might collapse," said mayor Sergio Pirozzi.

"There are tens of victims, so many under the rubble. We're preparing a place for the bodies," he said.

The main street through the town has been devastated and emergency workers are trying to reach six people in a collapsed building.

In Accumoli, a short distance to the north, Mayor Stefano Petrucci said one person had been pulled out of the rubble during the night.

"Then there is a family of four under a collapsed house and sadly there are two small children among them."

A local photographer spoke of 15 rescuers digging with their bare hands trying reach the family.

"They hear the screams of the mum and one of the children," he said.

Seismologist Andrea Tertulliani said there were sure to be further, numerous shocks that would probably diminish in intensity.

"But it can't be ruled out that there could be another shock on the same scale as the main one," he said.

Italy's Civil Protection agency described the earthquake as "severe".

"It was so strong. It seemed the bed was walking across the room by itself with us on it," Lina Mercantini of Ceselli, Umbria, told Reuters.

Rescue teams are being sent to the worst-hit areas, the prime minister's office said.

Earthquake tragedy also struck Italy in recent times. Nearly twenty years ago, on 26 September 1997, a violent earthquake shook Umbria and Marche. The vaults of the Upper Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi didn't withstand the earthquake and - just like the World Trade Center in New York - collapsed in a landslide of falling stones, plaster and dust.

In the tragedy, not only frescoes by Giotto and Cimabue disintegrated, but four men lost their lives: two Perugia Superintendence officials and two friars of the Sacred Convent.

Thanks to all the photographs taken before and after the collapse, it was possible to try and rebuild portions of the church which had collapsed and had been reduced to tens of thousands of fragments. On 28 November 1999, the Upper Basilica reopened for worship. The collapsed fragments were collected and, when possible, reassembled and placed back on site.

Statement by Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Commissioner Christos Stylianides following the earthquake in central Italy

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