Thousands flee as towns hit again by earthquakes
Officials in plea for temporary housing as checks begin on cracked homes
OFFICIALS in central Italy have begun assessing the damage caused by a pair of strong earthquakes in the same region of central Italy hit by a deadly quake in August, as an appeal went out for temporary housing adequate for the cold mountain temperatures.
Thousands of people spent the night in their cars after the quakes struck late on Wednesday, sending residents into the streets in pouring rain, too late for authorities to come up with adequate shelter.
A series of small shocks overnight, including two registering magnitudes above four before dawn, further unsettled residents.
Yesterday, there were no reports of serious injuries or signs of people trapped in rubble and the head of Italy’s civil protection agency, Fabrizio Curcio, said it appeared that the situation “is not as catastrophic” as it could have been.
A 73-year-old man died of a heart attack, possibly brought on by the quakes, local authorities told the Ansa news agency.
Mayors of towns in the mountain region spanning the Umbria and Marche regions said many more homes were rendered uninhabitable, on top of those damaged in the August quake, while historic structures that survived previous quakes had succumbed this time.
Camerino Mayor Gianluca Pasqui said the town’s historic bell tower had collapsed, but emphasised that reconstruction work after a 6.1 quake in 1997 appeared to have contributed to the absence of serious injury.
“I can say the city didn’t have victims. That means that, even if there is a lot of damage, probably the reconstruction in the historic centre was done in a correct and adequate manner,” Mr Pasqui said.
The president of Umbria region, Catiuscia Marini, said officials were scrambling to come up with temporary housing, mindful that, with winter approaching and temperatures dropping, tents cannot be deployed as they were after the August quake.
The concern for the predominantly elderly population of the remote mountain region was repeated by other officials.
Ms Marini said that after the quakes many people will be fearful of staying even in hotels deemed safe, and that solutions like campers were being considered.
“We don’t have injured, we have people who are very afraid, especially the elderly,” she said.
In Visso, Mayor Giuliano Passaglini said he was able to provide shelter for only a couple of hundred residents overnight, and most people spent the night in their cars.
Firefighters were helping residents to retrieve objects from their homes in the red zone. Most were intact, showing only cracks.
The first quake, with a magnitude of 5.4, struck at 7.10 pm local time on Wednesday, but the second, a little more than two hours later, was eight times stronger at 6.1, according to the US Geological Survey. Officials said the fact people had already left their homes when the second quake hit probably saved lives.
“Many houses collapsed,” the mayor of hard-hit Ussita, Marco Rinaldi said. “The facade of the church collapsed. By now I have felt many earthquakes. This is the strongest of my life.”
Calling it “apocalyptic”, he said the town and its hamlets were “finished”. In addition to the town’s church, the parish and other buildings also had suffered heavy damage, he added.
A church crumbled in the ancient Perugian town of Norcia, famed for its Benedictine monastery and its cured meats, and a bell tower damaged on August 24 fell and crushed a building in Camerino.
Elsewhere, buildings were damaged, though many were in zones that were declared off-limits after the August quake.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who cut short a visit to southern Italy to monitor the quake response, tweeted “all of Italy is embracing those hit once again”.