Rescuers believe they have found more bodies buried deep in the rubble of Amatrice, five days after the quake struck in central Italy, killing at least 290 people.
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With little hope of finding survivors, rescue workers still dug through the rubble, some with bare hands, looking for any remaining bodies.
No one was in the school at the time, but many were shocked that it did not withstand the 6.2 magnitude quake. On Tuesday, a memorial service – without the bodies – will be held for the dead of Amatrice on the town’s outskirts.
Questions also surround a bell tower in Accumoli that collapsed, killing a family of four sleeping in a neighboring house, including a baby of 8 months and a 7-year-old boy. Residents stress that renovation work seldom observes the country’s notoriously complex building regulations, which more often than not are bypassed by homeowners with a bribe or a fine agreed with their local commune (town) officials. That bell tower also had been recently restored with special funds allocated after Italy’s last major natural disaster in L’Aquila in 2009.
Italian magistrates opened an inquiry into whether companies ignored anti-seismic regulations when restoring public buildings, such as the Romolo Capranica school in Amatrice that was reduced to rubble in last week’s natural disaster.
Giuseppe said that, while he was keen to cook the dish for his customers as a tribute to the people of the earthquake-hit region, he would also gratefully receive any other offers of support to boost their fundraising efforts for the Red Cross.
Massimo Caico, the firefighter who pulled the girls out, told Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper that the position of the older girl’s body apparently created a pocket of air that allowed Giorgia to survive.
Italy’s state museums are donating Sunday’s proceeds to the relief and reconstruction efforts. “Post-quake reconstruction is always very appetising for criminal gangs and their business partners”.
The nation’s rich artistic heritage is being harnessed to help restore some of the notable buildings in the areas affected.
He has been inspecting homes and businesses that collapsed in Amatrice, the hill-top town that was nearly obliterated by the quake and where 230 of the 290 victims died.
Over the past two days, six more bodies were found in the rubble of Hotel Roma in Amatrice, the medieval hill town which bore the brunt of destruction and loss of life in the 6.2-magnitude quake. CCTV’s Kate Parkinson filed this report from Amatrice, once known for its pasta and now, for its great tragedy. The number still missing is uncertain, due to the many visitors seeking a last taste of summer in the Apennine mountains. Frances D’Emilio in Rome contributed.
Eleven others died in nearby Accumoli and 50 more in Arquata del Tronto, 10 miles north of Amatrice. “We are thinking about the families who lost relatives, who lost their homes, who lost everything”. The dead being honored at Ascoli Piceno came from Arquata del Tronto, another one of the towns devastated by Wednesday’s magnitued 6.2 quake.
Some 2-thousand others now live in makeshift tent cities.
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Gera reported from Rome.
