The hardest-hit towns were Amatrice and Accumoli near Rieti, some 50 miles northeast of Rome. Renzi reported 35 dead in Le Marche.
Advertisement
Resident Maria Gianni said: “The whole ceiling fell but did not hit me”. ‘I just managed to put a pillow on my head and I wasn’t hit luckily, just slightly injured my leg’. Mayor Stefano Petrucci said 2,500 people are displaced from their homes, approximately 2,000 of them summer holidaymakers.
With people trapped in the the rubble the death toll is likely to rise.
In Amatrice, rescue workers have been targeting their efforts by calling the cellphones of missing residents, and trying to reach those who answer. The mayor, Sergio Pirozzi, said that at this point “half the town no longer exists”.
The pope thanked all the volunteers and emergency workers who were trying to rescue victims people trapped under the rubble.
The Malaysian Embassy in Rome has confirmed that no Malaysians were involved in the quake which hit central Italy on Wednesday.
Patients at the badly damaged hospital in Amatrice were moved into the streets as a field hospital was set up.
“The roads in and out of town are cut off”.
Search parties sifted through the rubble in various towns and villages as the sun rose.
The mountainous, central spine of the country is highly seismically active, with many faults running through it, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
In contrast to the violent destruction of the quake, the courtyard of the heavily damaged convent featured a bed of roses and a breathtaking view of a valley, where five horses placidly grazed.
Father Fortunato told the Italian news agency ANSA that the quake woke all the friars, many of whom ran to the Basilica of St. Francis. “That is the good news”.
The Premier Renzi promised that all families, all the cities and villages in need of assistance will receive.
Rescue teams as well as civilians have been scrambling to uncover them, some even digging with their bare hands!
“The Italian community stepped up to the plate when that happened there and I’m sure they’ll do that this time as well”, Sacco said. In 2009, the 6.3-magnitude-6.3 that struck L’Aquila led to a trial in which the seismologists in the area were convicted of manslaughter for failing to predict the quake.
At around 3:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, a 6.2-magnitude natural disaster struck central Italy near Norcia in Umbria, which is about 105 miles north of east Rome. “I could hear other dogs in other apartments”. “The team sends its condolences to those affected by yesterday’s quake”, the statement said.
Facebook issued a safety check for those potentially affected by the quake.
There were 17 reported aftershocks in the three hours following the initial quake, the strongest measuring 5.5, the Italian seismic office said.
Advertisement
A refuge on the Gran Sasso mountain, a popular area for hikers and climbers, said on its Facebook page that a large piece of rock had collapsed in Wednesday’s quake.
