Newlyweds Clare and Stuart Cannon, from Gosforth, Newcastle, were celebrating their marriage in Rome when a 6.2-magnitude quake hit the central part of the country.
Advertisement
Fabrizio Curcio, the head of Italy’s civil protection agency, said the quake was on par with the L’Aquilla quake.
Rescue efforts are underway to help people trapped or injured by the quake, which hit towns across central Italy, almost 100 miles north of Rome and Vatican City.
He and his girlfriend have since left the town for Rome.
The 2009 natural disaster killed 300 people.
The army was mobilised to help with special heavy equipment and the treasury released 235 million euros (US$265 million) of emergency funds.
Tremors were felt as far away as the capital city of Rome, located more than 100 miles away from the quake’s epicenter.
Sergio Pirozzi, mayor of Amatrice, told local media that “most of the town is gone”.
“I don’t know what to say”.
The Italian news agency ANSA reports that at least 35 were killed in the town of Amatrice, 11 in Accumoli and 17 in the province of Ascoli Piceno, which includes Pescara del Tronto. Photos taken from the air by regional firefighters showed the town essentially flattened; Italy requested European Union satellite images of the whole area to get the scope of the damage.
Asked about the origin of the quake in the central area of Italy, the director of the National Geophysical and Volcanologist Institute replied that it historically originated from damage suffered by the stratum of the Apennine Mountains chain (Central Italy’s mountains) back in 1639-1703.
“There are broken liquor bottles all over the place”, said Gino Petrucci, owner of a bar in nearby Arquata Del Tronto where he was beginning the long cleanup.
“Listen, I know it’s not nice to say but if you need to pee you just do it, ” he said. He wept as he noted that the tiny hamlet of 700 swells to 2,000 in the summer months, and that he feared for the future of the town.
The mayor of the nearby town of Accumoli reported one family of four found under debris with no apparent signs of life, as well as one other possible victim. “I hope we get some help”, according to the AP.
This damage is all the dramatic result of three earthquakes and aftershocks covering one of the largest areas so far recorded in Italy’s history.
Italian Premier Matteo Renzi says the priority for the coming days is to rescue any survivors of the devastating quake and that he will head to the zone later in the day.
Advertisement
Beginning the audience in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis said he had prepared a normal audience talk on how the merciful Jesus is close to people, but given the devastation in central Italy, he made a decision to lead the recitation of the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary. The Franciscan friars who are the custodians of the basilica reported no immediate damage from Wednesday’s temblor.
