Central Italy has experienced another quake overnight that had a magnitude of 4.7, according to the USGS.
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Numerous victims were children, the health minister said, and there were warnings the toll could rise further.
Aftershocks have been felt in central Italy as rescue workers continued efforts to find survivors.
Italy’s civil protection agency reported the death toll had risen to 241 early Thursday with at least 264 others hospitalized. Trucks full of rubble left the area every few minutes, including one in which a dusty doll could be seen lying on top of tonnes of debris.
Media reports say about 8,000 Romanians live in the area in central Italy where the quake struck early Wednesday. Two powerful aftershocks registered 5.1 and 5.4. “Quiet, quiet”, one rescue worker said, according to The AP, before soon urging her on: “Come on, Giulia, come on, Giulia”.
The populations of the four worst-hit towns – Amatrice, Pescara del Tronto, Arquata del Tronto and Accumoli – increase by up to tenfold in the summer, and many of those killed or missing were visitors. A new law tries to encourage homeowners to make their homes earthquake-proof by reimbursing 65 percent of the cost over 10 years, but it isn’t enough to push Italians, who are facing years of economic stagnation, to put up the cash to make the upgrades. Aerial video taken by drones showed swathes of Amatrice, previous year voted one of Italy’s most attractive historic towns, completely flattened.
The country is no stranger to earthquakes: the 2009 L’Aquila tremor killed more than 300 people and in May 2012 two tremors nine days apart killed more than 20 people in the northern Emilia Romagna region.
Amatrice is known for its traditional all’amatriciana pasta sauce, and was gearing up to hold a festival celebrating the recipe this weekend, CNN reported.
About 270 people injured in Wednesday’s quake were hospitalised, the Civil Protection department said, adding that about 5,000 people, including police, firefighters, army troops and volunteers, were involved in post-quake operations.
Late on Wednesday, there were cheers in the village of Pescara del Tronto when a 4-year-old girl Giorgia Rinaldo was pulled alive from the rubble after being trapped for 17 hours.
But in many other cases, wails of grief rang out when bodies emerged.
Renzi said the Cabinet would meet on Thursday to decide measures to help the affected communities.
“Today is a day for tears, tomorrow we can talk of reconstruction”, he told reporters late on Wednesday.
Popular British singer Lily Allen who was on holiday in Umbria, where the natural disaster hit near the town of Norcia – a favoured tourist destination – confirmed that she was safe, after leaving a family holiday in Italy early, the Independent reported.
Most of the damage was in the Lazio and Marche regions, with Lazio bearing the brunt of the damage and the biggest toll.
“We are still finding some survivors because there is still some time, we can still find someone alive but of course hour by hour it’s going to be more hard and with less possibilities”, the BBC quoted Ronzi as saying. Neighboring Umbria was also affected.
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Italy sits on two fault lines, making it one of the most seismically active countries in Europe.
