The death toll is now at 290, but there are fears that it will rise as many are still unaccounted for. “We are thinking about the families who lost relatives, who lost their homes, who lost everything”.
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The 6.2 magnitude quake hit in the early hours of Wednesday, 100km north-east of Rome. “Together, above all, we will be able to restore life to our communities”. She is the sister of Giulia, whose small coffin lay in the centre of the sports hall.
Before attending a state funeral for some of the victim’s of Italy’s quake, President Sergio Mattarella visited Amatrice, the town that saw some of the worst damage and the highest death toll.
“The older one, Giulia, was sprawled over the smaller one, Giorgia”. “There are no words to describe it”, said Gina Razzetti, who lives in the town.
A funeral has begun in Italy for some of the victims of an natural disaster in Italy that devastated three towns this week, killing at least 290 people. She is now recovering in hospital next door to the gym where the funerals took place.
Italy’s civil protection agency said the death toll included 230 victims in Amatrice, 11 in Accumoli and 50 in Araqta del Tronto, after a hospitalized man succumbed to his injuries.
Giovanni D’Ercole, bishop of Ascoli Piceno, spreads incense during a funeral service for victims of the natural disaster. Nobody has been found alive in the ruins since Wednesday, and hopes have faded of finding any more survivors.
One of the firefighters, Andrea, had left a moving note on Giulia’s coffin, apologising for arriving too late, and signing it with a heart symbol.
The ministry said Romanian consular authorities were working with information they received from Italian authorities and from Romanian families who have been affected by the quake.
The president met and thanked rescue workers, who have been working since Wednesday morning to save people from the rubble, and recover the dead.
Across the area, a cool retreat for those seeking to escape Italy’s hot summers, numerous dead were children and elderly people, some of them visiting grandparents before school resumed.
The national mourning will include a state funeral for some of the victims in Ascoli Piceno to be attended by Premier Matteo Renzi and President Sergio Mattarella.
Saturday’s funeral involved most of the dead from Arquata del Tronto. Join us in a conversation about world events, the newsgathering process or whatever aspect of the news universe you find interesting or important.
Many bodies were brought to a makeshift morgue in an aircraft hangar in the city of Rieti, where authorities and relatives are identifying them. He was shown the extent of the damage by the mayor, Sergio Pirozzi.
Numerous people left homeless have been spending their nights in tent cities where volunteers have been working to provide basic amenities.
Overnight, residents of the area were rattled yet again by a series of aftershocks. The strongest, at 4:50 a.m., had a magnitude of 4.2, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
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Italian scientific authorities say that satellite images show that the ground below Accumoli sank 20 centimeters (8 inches) due to the natural disaster.
