Powerful Earthquake in Italy

[gordholio]

Just thought I'd post this since there are a lot of Torontonians (and Canadians) of Italian descent.

Powerful Italian quake kills many
BBC News

At least 27 people have been killed in a powerful earthquake that struck central Italy, Italian officials say.

Five children are said to be among the dead and at least 30 people remain unaccounted for as a massive search for the trapped is under way.

The 6.3-magnitude (on the richter scale) quake struck in the early hours close to the medieval city of L'Aquila, 95km (60 miles) from Rome.

A civil protection official told the BBC that 3,000 to 10,000 buildings in the city may have been damaged.

Agostino Miozzo said that thousands of people could have been made homeless.

Earlier, the mayor of L'Aquila, Massimo Cialente, said some 100,000 people had left their homes.

A university dormitory, churches and a bell tower are believed to be among the buildings that had collapsed.

TV footage showed residents and rescuers working through the debris from collapsed buildings, and bloodied residents being taken to hospital.

The death toll has been rising steadily throughout the morning. The latest from Ansa news agency is that 27 people were now dead.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has declared a state of emergency, and is reported to have cancelled a visit to Moscow.





Aftershocks

The earthquake happened at 0332 (3:32 am), hours after a 4.6-magnitude tremor shook the area but caused no reported damage.

Thousands of the city's 70,000 residents ran into the streets in panic during the 30 second tremor.

A student dormitory was said to be one of the buildings badly damaged. It was not clear if anyone remained trapped inside.

One student told Rai state TV that he managed to escape the building before the roof collapsed.

Public safety chief Guido Bertolaso warned of "numerous victims, many injured and so many collapsed homes" as he travelled to the scene, Ansa news agency reported.

Correspondents say that L'Aquila, capital of the mountainous Abruzzo region, has many old buildings not built to withstand a strong earthquake.

Even some modern structures on the outskirts of the city were reported to have collapsed.

The earthquake was also felt in Rome, where the BBC correspondent said he was woken up by the shaking.

Powerful earthquakes are relatively rare in Italy. In 2002, an earthquake in the southern Italian town of San Giuliano di Puglia killed more than 20 people.

In 1997, 13 people died when a strong earthquake struck Italy's central region.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7984867.stm

[gordholio]

Update: At least 40 people are dead thus far.

[Emancipated]

Amazing what a little natural occurrence can do to a beautiful, quiet city like this. Looks like a bomb had hit the place. That one building is literally in rubbles.

[joeym]

is Italy prone to earthquakes?

[Menace]

Yes, Italy, Greece , Turkey and Armenia are in the quake's prone area. Fault line is the word???

is Italy prone to earthquakes?

[gordholio]

Not strong ones like this one. It says it's rare in the article.

[YoungDr3amer]

Such a horrific event.

[djjosee]

the count is up to 90!

There was also this one in Northern Italy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Friuli_earthquake

[ImJJ]

Giuliani, who based his forecast on concentrations of radon gas around seismically active areas, was reported to police for "spreading alarm" and was forced to remove his findings from the Internet.

Italy's Civil Protection agency held a meeting of the Major Risks Committee, grouping scientists charged with assessing such risks, in L'Aquila on March 31 to reassure the townspeople.

http://www.postchronicle.com/news/br...12220740.shtml

[Psubs]

My friend is from that region but his family is 100 km's from the quake zone and they are alright, just felt the tremors.

[bokep]

http://www.postchronicle.com/news/br...12220740.shtml

So there has been continuous tremors since January, then a scientist notified people that a major earthquake was coming and the people reported him to the police and forced him to remove his findings from a public domain (interwebs)?

I hope they at least read his finding instead of dismissing it outright.

[MarkIII]

I just heard on CBC that many of the buildings (moderns ones) in that area are built to withstand earthquake. WHy did they still collapse?