The death toll in the natural disaster that hit central Italy on Wednesday has climbed to 247, with hundreds still unaccounted for or severely wounded, Italian authorities said Thursday morning.
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More details are emerging about those caught up in this catastrophe – tourists, nuns in a collapsed convent, children spending the end of the summer holidays with their grandparents.
Tales of horror and courage continue to come from the town in central Italy which was hit by a massive natural disaster on Wednesday even as the death toll went up to 250.
Meanwhile, in the remote area straddling Italian regions Umbria, Marche and Lazio, hundreds of people spent a chilly night in hastily assembled tents with the risk of aftershocks making it too risky for them to return home.
A police official in the Amatrice area told the Press Association that “a number of Britons” had been killed in the quake.
“The town is no more”, said Amatrice Mayor Sergio Pirozzi.
Officials said the death toll seemed destined to rise further.
A woman, sitting in front of her destroyed home with a blanket over her shoulders, said she did not know if her loved ones were dead or alive.
“Many cases have shown in the past that even after two days people can be rescued alive”, he said.
“Quakes with this magnitude at this depth in our territory in general create building collapses, which can result in deaths”, said the head of Italy’s civil protection service, Fabrizio Curcio. “It’s not easy for them”, said civil protection volunteer Tiziano De Carolis, helping to care for about 350 homeless in Amatrice.
“Regarding intensity, Italian history teaches us that there are multiple shocks that can activate other faults”.
Experts estimate that 70% of Italy’s buildings are not built to anti-seismic standards. The magnitude 6 quake struck at 3:36 a.m. (0136 GMT) and was felt across a broad swath of central Italy.
Mr Johnson said: “My deepest sympathies are with the Italian people and everyone affected by the bad quake that struck central Italy”.
After the L’Aquila quake, the Civil Protection agency made nearly a billion euros available for upgrading buildings in seismically-vulnerable areas.
After more digging, the child’s legs became visible to the rescue workers as they worked to free the child.
The area was struck again by a 4.3-magnitude aftershock Thursday that crumbled already cracked buildings as rescue workers struggled to find survivors among the rubble.
The aftermath of the deadly 6.2-magniture quake that devastated central Italy has caused further tragedy, as the hard-hit areas of Amatrice, Accumoli and Pescara del Tronto were riddled with hundreds of aftershocks, with some coming as late as Thursday.
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“You can hear something under here”.
