Italy earthquake: Dozens dead after powerful quake leaves towns in ruins

Rashid Razaq25 August 2016

Rescuers were today desperately trying to free people trapped under collapsed buildings after an earthquake killed dozens and left many more missing in central Italy.

Survivors described “apocalyptic” scenes in towns and villages near the city of Perugia in Umbria after the 6.2-magnitude quake struck at 3.36am.

A civil protection spokeswoman said at least 73 people had died.

The highest number of casualties were reported in the small village of Pescara del Tronto, where 10 people were reported dead, among them children.

The towns of Accumoli, Amatrice and Norcia, the epicentre of the quake, were also badly hit. Tremors were felt from Bologna in the north of the country to Naples in the south.

Powerful quake: At least 38 people have died after the 6.2 magnitude quake struck
AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino

Search teams were today using sniffer dogs and specialist equipment to try to reach “voices under the rubble”, after homes came down on residents as they slept.

A family of four, including two boys aged eight months and nine years, were among the victims when their house collapsed in Accumoli.

The town’s mayor, Stefano Petrucci, said: “Now that daylight has come, we see that the situation is even more dreadful than we feared, with buildings collapsed, people trapped under the rubble.”

Several towns affected: The highest casualties were reported in the small village of Pescara del Tronto, where 10 people were reported dead while the towns of Accumoli, Amatrice and Norcia were also badly hit.
AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino

The centre of Amatrice was also devastated, with entire residential blocks reduced to rubble.

Rocks and metal tumbled onto the streets and dazed residents huddled in piazzas as about 39 aftershocks, reaching up to 5.1 on the Richter scale, continued into the morning.

Amatrice mayor Sergio Pirozzi said: “Three quarters of the town is not there any more. The aim now is to save as many lives as possible. There are voices under the rubble, we have to save the people there.”

Chaos and destruction: Rescuers are busy looking for survivors trapped under rubble
Andrew Medichini/AP

The town’s hospital was badly damaged and patients were moved into the streets. Two Afghan girls, believed to be asylum-seekers, were also missing in the town.

One resident, Maria Gianni, had a miraculous escape when her home collapsed.

She said: “The whole ceiling fell but did not hit me. I just managed to put a pillow on my head and I wasn’t hit luckily, just slightly injured my leg.”

Another woman, sitting in front of her destroyed home with a blanket over her shoulders, said she did not know what had happened to her loved ones.

“It was one of the most beautiful towns of Italy and now there’s nothing left,” she said.

Distraught: A devastated woman is comforted by rescuers (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Alessandra Tarantino/AP

As dawn broke, residents, civil protection workers and even priests began digging with shovels, bulldozers and their bare hands, trying to reach survivors.

There was relief as a woman was pulled out alive from one building.

The Reverend Savino D’Amelio, an Amatrice parish priest, said: “We are living this immense tragedy. We are only hoping there will be the least number of victims possible and that we all have the courage to move on.”

Police said two people were known to have died in the nearby village of Pescara del Tronto and that residents were still unaccounted for in the village of Arquata del Tronto.

The earthquake caused damage to towns in three regions — Umbria, Lazio and Marche.

It is feared the death toll will rise signficantly because the normally quiet towns and villages were full of summer tourists.

The US Geological Survey, which measured the quake at 6.2 magnitude, said it struck near the Umbrian city of Norcia.

The damage was made more severe because the epicentre was at a relatively shallow 2.5 miles below the surface of the Earth.

Its intensity was compared to the Aquila earthquake in April 2009, in which 309 people died.

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