Death toll rises in Italy as aftershocks hinder rescue

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

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Earthquake aftershocks rocked the Italian city of L'Aquila yesterday, sending fresh lumps of debris tumbling as rescuers frantically tried to pull out more survivors, but the death toll passed 207. Rescuers worked under floodlights through the night and thousands of people whose homes were wrecked sheltered in tents and cars.

"The hopes of finding anyone under the rubble now is very small," a civil protection agency official at a camp set up outside L'Aquila said, adding aftershocks hampered the race to dig possible survivors out of the debris. A 98-year-old woman who whiled away the long hours knitting was among the lucky few saved, but hopes dwindled of finding others in the historic mountain city.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi rejected outside help after Italy's worst earthquake in three decades but reports of looting added to the crisis. Berlusconi said 207 people were now confirmed as dead in the worst quake to strike Italy in 30 years. Of some 1,500 people injured, about 100 were in serious condition.

Difficult task
"We advise people not to go back into their homes. The rescue efforts to find people still alive and will go on for at least two more days," Reuters quoted Berlusconi as saying. He said that at least 7,000 police, troops and other emergency services and volunteers were taking part in the hunt for survivors. But their task was complicated by the aftershocks, which rattled the L'Aquila more than a day after the initial 6.2 magnitude quake wreaked its devastation on the historic city and neighboring villages, according to a report by Agence France-Presse.

The strongest aftershock, which hit at about at 0926 GMT and registered 4.7 on the Richter scale, was felt as far away as Rome, where furniture swayed on the upper floors of buildings.

Tens of thousands of people left homeless by the powerful quake slept in makeshift tents that provided little protection against the chilly mountain air; scores of survivors lined up yesterday for a hot cup of coffee, tea and brioche. Six months pregnant, Sandra Padil spent the night in a tent without any covers as temperatures dipped to 6 Celsius (43 Fahrenheit), made bone-chilling by the humid mountain air. "We are calmer out in the open," Padil, a 32-year-old Peruvian who has been living in L'Aquila since 1996, told The Associated Press. "We didn't have blankets and it was cold, but at least this morning they gave us breakfast. Let's hope this ends quickly."

"It's a scandal what's happened," L'Aquila resident Maria Francesco told AFP. "For the past three months there have been regular tremors, and they've been getting stronger and stronger!"

The quake also took a severe toll on L'Aquila's prized architectural heritage. Many Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque and Renaissance landmarks were damaged, including part of the red-and-white stone basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio. The bell tower of the 16th-century San Bernardino church and the cupola of the Baroque Sant'Agostino church also fell, the Culture Ministry said. Stones tumbled down from the city's cathedral, which was rebuilt after a 1703 earthquake.

Safety concerns led to the cancellation of Easter mass services at churches damaged by the quake. Prayers would instead be held in tent villages sheltering survivors, the Roman Catholic Church announced. Italy is crisis-crossed by two fault lines, making it one of Europe's most quake-vulnerable regions, with some 20 million at risk.