Holidaymakers likely to add to quake death toll
‘‘Unfortunately, 90 per cent we pull out are dead, but some make it – that’s why we are here.’’ Christian Bianchetti, volunteer rescuer
Rescue crews using bulldozers and their bare hands are racing to dig out survivors from the strong earthquake that reduced three central Italian towns to rubble.
The death toll stood at 159 yesterday, but the number of dead and missing was uncertain given the thousands of holidaymakers in the area for summer’s final days. At least 368 others were injured.
Wednesday’s quake shook the Lazio region and Umbria and Le Marche on the Adriatic coast, a highly seismic area that has witnessed major quakes in the past.
Dozens of people have been pulled out alive by rescue teams and volunteers that have poured in from around Italy.
‘‘Unfortunately, 90 per cent we pull out are dead, but some make it – that’s why we are here,’’ said Christian Bianchetti, a volunteer from Rieti working in the devastated town of Amatrice, where floodlights were set up so the rescue could continue through the night.
Italian Premier Matteo Renzi visited the disaster zone yesterday and pledged that ‘‘no family, no city, no hamlet will be left behind’’.
Worst affected were Amatrice and Accumoli near Rieti, about 100 kilometres northeast of Rome, and Pescara del Tronto, about 25km further east. Italy’s civil protection agency has set up tent cities around each hamlet to accommodate the thousands of homeless.
Italy’s health minister, Beatrice Lorenzin, visiting the devastated area, said many of the victims were children. The quake zone is a popular spot for Romans with second homes, and the population swells in August, when most Italians take their summer holiday before school resumes.
The medieval centre of Amatrice has been devastated, with rescue crews digging by hand to reach trapped residents. The birthplace of the famed spaghetti all’amatriciana, the city was full for this weekend’s planned festival honouring its native dish.
Amatrice is made up of 69 hamlets, which teams from around Italy are working to reach with sniffer dogs, earthmovers and other heavy equipment.
In the city centre, rocks and metal tumbled on to the streets and dazed residents huddled in piazzas as more than 200 aftershocks jolted the region throughout the day, some as strong as magnitude 5.1.
A woman sitting in front of her destroyed home with a blanket over her shoulders said she didn’t know what had become of her loved ones.
‘‘It was one of the most beautiful towns of Italy and now there’s nothing left,’’ she said, too distraught to give her name. ‘‘I don’t know what we’ll do.’’
A few kilometres north of Amatrice, in Illica, residents complained that rescue workers were slow to arrive and that loved ones were trapped.
‘‘We are waiting for the military,’’ said resident Alessandra Cappellanti. ‘‘There is a base in Ascoli, one in Rieti, and in L’aquila. And we have not seen a single soldier. We pay! It’s disgusting!’’
Agostino Severo, a Rome resident visiting Illica, said workers eventually arrived after an hour or so. ‘‘We came out to the piazza, and it looked like Dante’s Inferno,’’ he said. ‘‘People crying for help, help.’’
The US Geological Survey reported the quake’s magnitude was 6.2, while the Italian geological service put it at 6 and the European Mediterranean Seismological Center at 6.1.
The quake had a shallow depth of between four and 10 kilometres, the agencies said. Generally, shallow earthquakes pack a bigger punch and tend to be more damaging than deeper quakes.
‘‘The Apennine mountains in central Italy have the highest seismic hazard in Western Europe and earthquakes of this magnitude are common,’’ noted Richard Walters, a lecturer in Earth sciences at Durham University in Britain.
Another hard-hit town is Pescara del Tronto, in the Le Marche region, where the main road is covered in debris. Residents were digging their neighbours out by hand before emergency crews arrived.
Aerial photos taken by regional firefighters showed the town flattened and under a thick grey coating of dust.
Italy has requested European Union satellite images of the area to assess the scope of the damage.