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Registration date : 2009-02-23
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 Subject: At least 150 killed in Italian earthquake, officials say Tue Apr 07, 2009 10:16 am |
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L'AQUILA, Italy (CNN) -- Rescuers worked into the night in hopes of finding survivors of a powerful earthquake that hit Italy's mountainous Abruzzo region early Monday, killing scores of people and leaving tens of thousands homeless.
People cue in line to receive aid in L'Aqulia following Monday's earthquake.
People cue in line to receive aid in L'Aqulia following Monday's earthquake.
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Tearful survivors, many of them clad in pajamas and blankets, watched as bodies were pulled from the rubble in the medieval city of L'Aquila, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) northeast of Rome.
The magnitude 6.3 quake killed at least 150 people, L'Aquila's fire department said late Monday. Italy's Civil Protection agency reported at least 1,500 injured and 50,000 without shelter.
"I can say there's hardly a building which was left without some sign of what has happened in the historical center of L'Aquila," Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said during a visit to the region. "All the public buildings have been affected."
Berlusconi said 4,000 people were working on the rescue effort. Civil defense officials said they are prepared to house up to 30,000 people, but many of those displaced have gone to hotels.
Of the 150 dead, about 100 bodies have been identified, the officials said.
The quake, which struck about 3:30 a.m. local time, is the deadliest to strike Italy in decades and the first major temblor to strike the country in almost seven years.
Joshua Brothers, an American missionary in L'Aquila, said the quake "sounded as if a 747 [jet] was actually coming in to land."
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The quake left stone buildings in heaps, with rubble spilling over parked cars and into alleyways. Frightened residents rushed into the streets, many of them bringing luggage with them, Brothers said. Photo See images of the destruction »
"If you look along the way, there are many palazzi that are cracked, walls have fallen in on some of them," he said. Video Watch Brothers describe devastation »
L'Aquila's hospital was damaged as well, forcing doctors to evacuate the most seriously hurt. Agostino Miozzo, the director-general of Italy's Civil Protection agency, called it "a disaster on a huge scale." iReport.com: 'The house shook for such a long time'
Berlusconi declared a state of emergency and canceled a trip to Russia to oversee the rescue efforts.
Journalist Delia Gallagher said rescuers were forced to use their hands to dig through ruined buildings in the hunt for survivors.
She described how one woman was pulled alive from the wreckage of a building that had collapsed. Ten hours after the quake hit, rescuers were trying to listen for more survivors.
Gallagher said she saw residents carrying their remaining possessions in battered suitcases as they walked away from ruined areas.
L'Aquila is the capital of the Abruzzo region. With some areas yet to report the extent of the damage, the death toll was expected to rise.
Part of the region is without electricity, and crews were checking for gas leaks. See map showing epicenter »
Three significant aftershocks -- ranging from magnitude 4.3 to 4.8 -- shook the area within six hours of the 6.3 quake.
The 6.3-magnitude earthquake came less than six hours after another quake hit the northern part of the country, the U.S. Geological Survey said. That quake registered 4.6 and happened about 55 kilometers (35 miles) southeast of Bologna.
Italy is close to two major geological fault lines, making it one of the most earthquake-prone countries in Europe.
A 6.5-magnitude quake in southern Italy in 1980 killed nearly 3,000 people. Other quakes in 1908, 1915 and 1930 killed tens of thousands.
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In 1997, an earthquake killed 10 people in the Umbria region, left tens of thousands homeless and seriously damaged monuments and artwork, including the town of Assisi's famed Basilica of St. Francis.
Pope Benedict XVI was praying for the "victims, especially the children," killed in Monday's quake, the Vatican said, according to Italian news agency ANSA.
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