Emergency services set up tent cities around the quake-devastated towns to accommodate the homeless, housing about 1,200 people overnight.
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“New York and Italy are more than allies”.
The disaster comes seven years after an quake in the nearby city of L’Aquila left 300 people dead, raising questions about Italy’s ability to prepare for seismic events.
“I was extremely saddened to see the tragic loss of life following the devastating natural disaster in central Italy, which now includes the death of a Canadian citizen”, Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion said in a statement Thursday.
Monica, a survivor from the tourist town of Amatrice, said: “What have we got to lose now?”
They were among the hundreds killed and injured when a 6.2-magnitude quake levelled three small towns in central Italy early Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, civil protection officials have revised the death toll from Wednesday’s 6.2-magnitude quake to 241, with 184 in Amatrice, 46 in Arqueta and 11 in Accumoli, the three hardest-hit towns, which are largely ruined. At least 365 others were hospitalized, and 215 people were pulled from the rubble alive since the quake struck.
Armando Zambrano, the head of Italy’s National Council of Engineers, said the technology exists to reinforce old buildings and prevent such high death tolls when quakes strike every few years.
Giuseppe Bellini/Getty Images News/Getty ImagesARQUATA DEL TRONTO, ITALY – AUGUST 25: A general view of damaged buildings on August 25, 2016 in Arquata del Tronto, Italy.
According toCNN, rescue crews are determined to find more survivors despite the length of time people could have been potentially trapped. The death toll in that village alone sits at 200 people (the town was reportedly full of visitors).
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The fact that the devastation comes just seven years after more than 300 died in the nearby town of L’Aquila has prompted concerns not enough is being done to protect people’s property and lives. While the geography of the country makes it a seismic challenge, experts are already questioning why the buildings (particularly newer buildings like the Romolo Capranica school in Amatrice that was built in 2012, which was reduced to rubble in the earthquake) were not built to anti-seismic specifications.
