strong earthquake hits l'Aquila A strong earthquake hit l'Aquila in the early hours this morning. 27 people have been confirmed dead and expected to rise.
News of the L'Aquila earthquake made the front pages of the websites of newspapers and television stations worldwide Monday and racked up over 1,600 stories on Google News within eight hours of the event. The quake was the top item on America's New York Times and Los Angeles Times websites, while the Washington Post posted it second after a feature on United States President Barack Obama's official visit to Turkey. In Britain, the quake made the front page of the BBC website, which described survivors as ''a stream of ghostly figures'' wearing blankets and dragging luggage along the streets in search of safety. The earthquake was also the main item on sites for most British newspapers including The Guardian and The Times and The Independent, with many carrying video images from L'Aquila. French newspaper Le Monde ran the earthquake as the second item on its homepage with the title ''Earthquake in Italy: the deaths were inevitable'' and carrying an interview with a French geophysicist at the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre, while Le Figaro featured the aftermath of the quake in photos as its main item. The earthquake was also the top story on the websites of German newspapers Der Spiegel and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as well as Spain's El Mundo, which described it as ''apocalyptic''. El Mundo also ran an item about an Italian geologist from the Gran Sasso National Physics Laboratory who reportedly raised the alarm several days before the quake but was accused of alarmism, asking ''could the disaster have been avoided if he had been taken seriously''?
Expert blames bad building Poor construction methods were to blame for the high death toll from Monday's earthquake in central Italy, which itself was not that powerful, according to a leading expert. Over 50 people were killed in the central region of Abruzzo following a quake in the early morning hours of Monday which measured 5.8 on the Richter Scale. ''The damage in the Abruzzo region involved buildings which were not built to withstand a quake that was not even particularly strong,'' observed Enzo Boschi, the chairman of Italy's National Institute for Geophysics and Vulcanology (INGV). ''It is always distressing to note that we do not have the mentality to build adequate structures in areas at risk of seismic activity. In other words, we don't construct buildings to withstand quakes nor to we revamp old buildings to make them safe from collapse,'' Boschi said. ''We have detailed maps which indicate the areas which are most at risk of earthquakes and we have also indicated what actions are needed to make buildings safe. But little or nothing has been done,'' he added. Looking back at Monday's early morning's quake, Boschi said ''it was a common tremor for the Apennine mountain chain, one which occurs when underground shelves shift by ten centimeters or so''. It is impossible to predict when such tremors will occur, Boschi observed, ''because the parameter variables change constantly. However, in the near future there should no other ones similar in magnitude to the one last night, although we can expect after shocks to continue in addition to the over 100 we have already recorded''. Ignazio Guerra of the University of Calabria agreed that it was impossible to predict when and where earthquakes will take place and downplayed claims that they can be forecast based on radon gas emissions. ''To say that there will be an earthquake somewhere means nothing. Predicting means indicating time, place and magnitude. At present it is impossible to do this,'' Guerra said. ''There have been earthquakes without the emission of radon gas just as there have been emissions of radon gas without earthquakes. Thus this method is far from perfect,'' Guerra explained. According to the expert, incorrect prediction ''can be even more damaging that a real earthquake'' because of the panic this can create and the effect it can have on the economy and property values in the area. Seismic activity in January in the province of L'Aquila, the capital of Abruzzo, led a group of local 'criers' last month to tell city residents to abandon their homes because an earthquake was about to strike. Police are investigating the group and it is unclear whether they based their action on the increase in radon emissions.
92 deaths The death toll from Monday's earthquake in L'Aquila rose to 92 at 14:30 or 11 hours after the quake, rescuers said. The toll is expected to rise as teams recover more bodies, they said.
1, 500 injured, premier says Premier Silvio Berlusconi said Monday that around 1,500 people were injured in the L'Aquila earthquake that killed at least 92. ''At the moment 4,000 rescuers are at work and concentrating on extracting people from the rubble,'' said Berlusconi, who cancelled a trip to Moscow to travel to L'Aquila where he surveyed the damage from a helicopter. The premier said a camp with 2,000 tents, each capable of housing 8-10 people, was currently being set up in the city for those who had lost their homes in the disaster, while around 4,000 beds in hotels in the area had also been reserved for survivors. ''The camp should be ready be tonight,'' Berlusconi told journalists at a press conference, during which another small quake was felt. ''The fundamental thing I want to say is that nobody will be left alone,'' he said. The premier appealed to survivors not to remain in damaged houses. ''Nobody can tell if there will be further quakes in the next few hours or days,'' he said.
Predictions impossible There was no way to predict the earthquake which rocked the central region of Abruzzo in the early hours of Monday morning, Civil Protection chief Guido Bertolaso told a news conference here in the region's capital. At least 92 people were killed, some 1,500 injured and thousands left homeless by the earthquake which measured 6.2 on today's generally used MMS scale, compared to 5.8 on the Richter scale, which scientists only use now for smaller quakes. There have been tremors here since last January and experts were here last week to examine the phenomenon but Bertolaso said they had ''no technical or scientific elements which could have led them to forecast this sort of quake''. His position was confirmed by Enzo Boschi, the chairman of Italy's National Institute for Geophysics and Vulcanology (INGV) who said it was impossible to predict when such tremors will occur ''because the parameter variables change constantly''. Ignazio Guerra of the University of Calabria agreed and downplayed claims that they can be forecast based on radon gas emissions. ''To say that there will be an earthquake somewhere means nothing. Predicting means indicating time, place and magnitude. At present it is impossible to do this,'' Guerra said. ''There have been earthquakes without the emission of radon gas just as there have been emissions of radon gas without earthquakes. Thus this method is far from perfect,'' Guerra explained. Using radon gas emissions as a means to predict earthquakes has been championed by an expert at the National Astrophysics Institute, Gioacchino Giampaolo Giuliani, who has attracted considerable press attention. The INGV has been studying this method for some 20 years, but according to institute scientist Federica Quattrocchi ''it still has not been perfected enough to become an effective means of prediction''. ''I don't question his (Giuliani's) research, only his methods. People like him operate on the fringes of the scientific community and with their claims complicate our own work''. Guerra was even harsher and said that predictions by people like Giuliani ''can be even more damaging that a real earthquake'' because of the panic this can create and the effect it can have on the economy and property values in the area. The seismic activity which has occured in the province of L'Aquila since January led a group of local 'criers' last month to tell city residents to abandon their homes because an earthquake was about to strike. Police are investigating the group and it is unclear whether they based their action on Guiliani's claims.
If anyone is near to the area and can provide help, blood or food please call the Protezione Civile in Pescara on 085 2057631 for more information. For anyone wishing to donate blood you can donate at any of the hospitals listed in the pdf below. http://www.italyforum.it/attachment.php?attachmentid=128&stc=1&d=1239036967 If you can donate food please bring what you can with you to: Banco Alimentare dell'Abruzzo, in via Celestino V.
The death toll from Monday's quake in L'Aquila has risen to 207 and rescue services have set a 48-hour deadline for locating the remaining six missing people, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi said Tuesday. Rescue teams were focusing their efforts on retrieving four teenagers believed to be in the ruins of the Abruzzo city's youth centre, the premier said. He said 150 people had been pulled from the rubble alive and more than 7,000 rescuers from 12 Italian regions were at work. Field camps for 14,500 survivors would be completed by Tuesday evening, he said. The 6.2 magnitude quake left 17,000 homeless, many of whom have already been taken to hotels on the Abruzzo coast. ''All the rescue squads and especially the fire teams have been great. We must thank and admire them,'' Berlusconi told reporters. The premier thanked countries from around the world including the United States and Iran who had offered help but said Italy could cope. On Monday the government earmarked a 30-million-euro emergency package and started drawing on European Union funds that would reach into the hundreds of millions.
Very well detailed information, many thanks. I have seen this on the T.V and was really wondering about the cause of it, good that I have read this post of yours, it really is informative.
Any tragedy like this just tugs on my heart. Whenever I turn on the TV and hear about some disaster happening anywhere around the world, all I can do is sigh and mourn and try to take comfort in those who perished being in a better place now. It's a very helpless feeling when these things happen.
I heard recently that the goverment was refusing to pay any further hotel bills for people that lost their homes in this terrible event. I donated a couple of times to charity along with millions of others and i'd like to know how many people have been relocated and how many have been left to defend for themself after all this.
