Italian hopes for survivors fading away

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

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As aftershocks from the earthquake sent new fears through the tent camps that shelter thousands of survivors, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was facing opposition criticism for remarks comparing the ordeal of survivors staying in tents to a camping weekend.

"There aren't going to be any more people alive here," Pedro Frutos, a search dog handler at the site of a collapsed apartment building in L'Aquila, the epicenter of Monday's quake told Agence France-Presse.

Berlusconi said on Tuesday the search for survivors would continue for another 48 hours, but the focus of the operation was shifting yesterday to looking after survivors. Rescuers did manage to pull a young girl named Eleonora, still in her pyjamas, from beneath the debris of her home in L'Aquila on Tuesday night but no survivors were found yesterday.

Several strong tremors overnight added to the trauma and complicated the rescue task. "I slept so badly because I kept feeling the aftershocks," Daniela Nunut told The Associated Press at one of the tent camps set up across the city of L'Aquila. The 46-year woman said she and her companion plan to stay in the tent for now. "What can you do? You can't go into the building."

Turkish group ready for help

Meanwhile, the Search and Rescue Association, or AKUT, a Turkish rescue group, said yesterday that it was ready to help Italian authorities with post-earthquake rescue efforts, adding: "There is no call for help, at least for now."

"We are in contact with Italian rescue teams. But there should be an international emergency call by the U.N. for international help," Dündar Şahin, president of AKUT’s education board, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review yesterday. While Şahin hailed the success of the emergency rescue efforts in L’Aquila, he added: "Now, it is time to provide food, shelter and medicine to the quake-hit Italian towns. The Italian government might demand humanitarian aid in the near future."

Meanwhile, the gaffe-prone Premier Berlusconi told German television "they should see it like a weekend of camping," during a visit to a tent village on Tuesday. The billionaire leader was also quoted as promising beach holidays to the victims. "He is a completely insensitive man who thinks wisecracks can solve every problem," said Rina Gagliardi, a former senator of the Refoundation Communist Party.

But despite the criticism in some quarters, Italian prime minister has generally won praise from the Italian media for his performance.