Italian quake survivors refuse to leave
NORCIA, Italy — Residents of a mountainous region of central Italy displaced by a series of powerful earthquakes resisted relocation Monday and appealed for campers and tents so they could remain close to their homes and businesses.
The latest quake on Sunday morning — with a magnitude of 6.6, the strongest to hit Italy in 36 years — caused no deaths or serious injuries, largely because most vulnerable city centers already had been closed because of previous damage, and many homes were vacated.
But it did complicate relief efforts in a fragile zone still coping with the aftermath of an August earthquake that killed nearly 300 people, and a pair of damaging aftershocks last week.
Civil-protection officials said the number of people needing housing has risen by 15,000 since Wednesday, a figure that does not include the 2,000 who remained displaced from the August quake.
Although thousands already have been moved out of harm’s way and into coastal regions, a growing number of quake-stricken communities are insisting on staying put. They say they have businesses to tend to, often involving livestock, or think that because their homes are still standing they remain the safest place to be.
On Monday, about 20 people remained in the hilltop town of Castelluccio, which was all but razed on Sunday, according to aerial video shot by Italian firefighters. The town is famous for its lentils and its spectacular display of wildflowers, and the residents who stayed behind include farmers and shepherds sharing a camper and two containers they organized themselves, according to Italy’s National Associated Press Agency.
“This town is dead and buried,” Adorno Pignatelli said. “But we will continue to grow flowers because we won’t let it die definitively.”
The head of the Coldiretti farm lobby in Macerata province, Francesco Fucilli, said many livestock owners had suffered both damaged barns and homes. They cannot relocate to shelters because they need to stay near their animals at night, Fucilli said, so are ap-
pealing for campers, containers or other temporary structures that would allow them to shelter in place.
“This is a very dramatic situation,” Fucilli said. “Our livestock breeders cannot move, especially at night. They need to be near their animals to sleep, to look after them and protect them from wild animals.”
Wolves in the area are a problem in particular for sheep. For now, cows remain at pasture, but will need to have their barns rebuilt before freezes begin in a few weeks, he said.
Civil-protection officials said they expect the number of people needing assistance to continue to rise, as it doesn’t count the many people who were sleeping in vehicles or had made other arrangements before the latest earthquake. Temperatures overnight reached near freezing, and officials have expressed concern for the many elderly residents of the mountain communities.
“We cannot have tents for some months in the mountains, under the snow,” Premier Matteo Renzi wrote in a Monday message. “There are enough hotels for everyone. But many of our compatriots don’t want to leave their lands, not even for some weeks.”
The deputy mayor of Preci, a town of about 700 residents located 37 miles southeast of Perugia in Umbria, appealed to authorities to send campers, tents or containers. He said up to 400 people preferred to brave the cold in tents rather than move.
“Many people have their roots here, their businesses, agricultural activities, have shops,” Deputy Mayor Paolo Masciatti told Sky TG24. “The houses are uninhabitable and some are destroyed. They have livestock. … We don’t want to go anywhere. We are born here. Our roots are here.”
Masciatti stood against the backdrop of the abbey of Saint Eutizio, which crumbled under the force of the last week’s double jolt despite reinforcements made after a 1997 temblor.
“As you see, our history, our culture, has collapsed,” he said.
Residents of Tolentino, where three people were pulled from the rubble after new collapses, told the network that they had no intention of moving on.
In the town of Norcia, closest to the epicenter, firefighters were taking people back to their homes early Monday to retrieve belongings. The ground continued to shake overnight with at least two jolts above magnitude 4.
The mayor of Norcia, Nicola Alemanno, said tents that can house a couple thousand people had been erected, while 500 have moved to hotels.
Renzi expressed “enormous relief” that no one was killed.
“But the damage to the housing stock, as well as economic, cultural and religious treasures, is impressive. These villages are the identity of Italy. We must reconstruct them all, quickly and well,” Renzi said.
Many of the towns struck are of historic significance, including Norcia, where a Benedictine cathedral collapsed, leaving just the facade.
In Rome, about 68 miles southwest of the epicenter, authorities closed a bridge over the Tiber River for inspection after it showed signs of damage. Also, the church of Sant’Eustachio near the Pantheon was closed after cracks were detected in its dome, the National Associated Press Agency reported.