Strong aftershocks rattle Italian earthquake zone
AMATRICE (AP) — Strong aftershocks rattled residents and rescue crews alike yesterday as hopes began to dim that firefighters would find any more survivors from Italy’s earthquake. The first funerals were scheduled to be celebrated for some of the 267 dead.
Some of hard-hit Amatrice’s crumbled buildings suffered more cracks after the biggest aftershock of the morning struck at 6:28 a.m. The US Geological Service said it had a magnitude of 4.7, while the Italian geophysics institute measured it at 4.8.
The aftershock was preceded by more than a dozen weaker ones overnight and was followed by another nine in the subsequent hour — some of the nearly 1,000 aftershocks that have rocked the seismic area of Italy’s central Apennine Mountains in the two days since the original quake on Wednesday.
Rescue efforts continued through the night, but more than a day and a half had passed since the last person was extracted alive from the rubble. While Premier Matteo Renzi hailed the fact that 215 people had been rescued since the quake, civil protection officials reported only a steadily rising death toll that stood early Friday at 267.
Nevertheless, civil protection operations chief Immacolata Postiglione insisted that the rescue effort continued in full, “in search of other people trapped in the rubble.’’
The bulk of the confirmed deaths were in the small town of Amatrice, where Rita Rosine, 63, wept as she mourned her 75-year-old sister, who was buried under the ruins of her house.
“The situation is worse than in war. It’s awful, awful... they say it will take two days to dig her out because they have to shore up the surrounding buildings,” she told AFP.
“She didn’t deserve to die like that, she was so good.”
As hopes of finding any more survivors in the rubble faded, questions mounted as to why there had been so many deaths in a sparsely populated area so soon after a 2009 earthquake in the nearby city of L’Aquila left 300 people dead.
That disaster, just 50 kilometers south, underscored the region’s vulnerability to seismic events — but preparations for a fresh quake have been exposed as limited at best.
“Italy should have plan that is not just limited to the management of emergency situations,” he said after a Cabinet meeting.
Renzi admitted that Italy has a difficult task ahead to secure buildings — and its vast collection of historical heritage — against quake damage, but said that modern technology could play a role.