Posted on 08/24/2016 5:15:53 AM PDT by simpson96
ACCUMOLI, Italy (Reuters) - A powerful earthquake devastated a string of mountainous towns in central Italy on Wednesday, trapping residents under piles of rubble, killing at least 38 people and leaving thousands homeless.
The quake struck in the early hours of the morning when most residents were asleep, razing homes and buckling roads in a cluster of communities some 140 km (85 miles) east of Rome.
A family of four, including two boys aged 8 months and 9 years, were buried when their house in Accumoli imploded.
As rescue workers carried away the body of the infant, carefully covered by a small blanket, the children's grandmother blamed God: "He took them all at once," she wailed.
The army was mobilized to help with special heavy equipment and the treasury released 235 million euros ($265 million) of emergency funds. At the Vatican, Pope Francis canceled part of his general audience to pray for the victims.
Aerial photographs showed whole areas of Amatrice, voted last year as one of Italy's most beautiful historic towns, flattened by the 6.2 magnitude quake.
"It's all young people here, it's holiday season, the town festival was to have been held the day after tomorrow so lots of people came for that," said Amatrice resident Giancarlo, sitting in the road wearing just his underwear.
"It's terrible, I'm 65-years-old and I have never experienced anything like this, small tremors, yes, but nothing this big. This is a catastrophe," he said.
Accumoli mayor Stefano Petrucci said some 2,500 were left homeless in the local community, which is made up of 17 hamlets.
Residents responding to wails muffled by tonnes of bricks and mortar sifted through the rubble with their bare hands before emergency services arrived with earth-moving equipment and sniffer dogs. Wide cracks had appeared like open wounds on the buildings that were still standing.
(Excerpt) Read more at ca.news.yahoo.com ...
Prayers up!
Prayers!
People forget much of the Italian peninsula is in a very seismically active zone. That explains why in southern Italy you have Mt. Vesuvius and on Sicily, Mt. Etna.
I’ve seen photos this morning...it’s devestating
:( !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No family in that area. Everyone’s further south.
But it is heartbreaking.
From google street-view, very old homes, bldg’s, multi story, brick, stone, very narrow streets. Not where I’d want to be during a quake.
Wow! The whole small town is devastated. It looks like it was bombed into rubble!
I have cousins visiting Acquasanta in Marche and I'm very concerned.
Any news would be appreciated.
Prayers for all those good people!
Prayers for the victims and emergency responders.
More and more earthquakes, tsunami’s, epic rain and flooding ... one wonders.
Called my sister who lives in a nearby town, very scared but safe. It was a shallow earthquake and was felt as far south as Naples and even in Croatia. The devastation is enormous, entire families wiped out or still under the rubble. Access roads need to be cleared for the emergency vehicles to come. They have been using helicopters to move injured people.
Uniformitism.
I wouldn't call that "blame." I'd call that acknowledgement. May God bless her in her old age without her beloved family members.
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