Italy has now declared a state of emergency in the regions worst hit by Wednesday’s quake as hopes of finding more survivors fade.
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Rescue workers used sniffer dogs on Friday to search the rubble for survivors of an quake that hit central Italy on Wednesday.
A day after the shallow quake levelled three small towns, a 4.3 magnitude aftershock hit the already-devastated settlement of Amatrice.
Amatrice Mayor Sergio Pirozzi made an impassioned plea to his fellow townspeople for solidarity, vowing to rebuild in the same spot that has been reduced mostly to debris and damaged buildings.
About 15 people, including children, had not been accounted for, he said.
Coffins of some of the victims of Wednesday’s quake lie inside a gymnasium in Ascoli Piceno, Italy, Friday, Aug. 26, 2016. Flags will fly at half-mast across the country tomorrow to coincide with funerals for some of the victims.
At least 367 people have been hospitalised with injuries but no one has been pulled alive from the piles of collapsed masonry since Wednesday evening. Earlier this morning at least 60 people died after a 6.2 quake struck central Italy with officials warning that the death toll is likely to rise.
Marco Santarelli, the 27-year-old son of Frosinone’s police commissioner, was playing video games with two friends when the natural disaster struck Amatrice early Wednesday.
Rescue workers have spent days and nights picking through the rubble of several small towns left devastated by the 6.2 magnitude natural disaster.
Club member Marion Capecci, of Aurora, who stays in touch with relatives mostly through Facebook and occasionally via Twitter, said many her late husband’s relatives live in Ascoli Picento, just 25 miles northwest of the hardest hit areas.
The Italian Council of Ministers approved a state of emergency for the regions affected by the quake Thursday, allocating 50 million Euros of emergency funding.
The Italian Red Cross is working on the ground to help. “Anyway. We try to go on”, he said.
“I’m convinced Amatrice will be reborn, because no night is long enough to prevent the sun from rising”, he said.
“My deepest sympathies are with the Italian people and everyone affected by the awful natural disaster”, said Johnson, who sent condolences to his Italian counterpart Paolo Gentiloni.
Romania’s foreign ministry says six Romanians have died and 17 Romanians are still missing in the Italian quake.
“Brooklyn is one of the most diverse places in the world, but right now, we’re all Italian”.
Italy has a poor record of rebuilding after quakes. Italy’s prime minister, Matteo Renzi, said that 215 people have been rescued.
Cultural Minister Dario Franceschini said all 293 culturally important sites, many of them churches, had either collapsed or been seriously damaged.
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“We hope to God it works because otherwise with the damaged stretch of road, we are without any connection” to the main roads and “we have to make sure Amatrice does not become isolated, or risk further help being unable to get through”, he said. To date, 49 of the dead have come from the tiny town and its hamlet Pescara del Tronto.
