Dozens dead as quake hits Italy

[Rasputin]

A powerful earthquake struck a huge swathe of central Italy as residents slept on Monday morning, killing at least 27 people when houses, churches and other buildings collapsed.

The dead were mainly in L'Aquila, a 13th century mountain city about 100 km (60 miles) east of Rome that has a population of 68,000, and surrounding villages.

The Italian news agency Ansa, citing hospital services, put the death toll at 27 less than six hours after the quake.

The Civil Protection Department said the quake most likely killed "tens of people." Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi canceled a trip to Moscow and said he had declared a national emergency, which would free up funds for aid and rebuilding.

"I woke up hearing what sounded like a bomb," said Angela Palumbo, 87, as she walked on a street of L'Aquila.

"We managed to escape with things falling all around us. Everything was shaking, furniture falling. I don't remember ever seeing anything like this in my life," she said.

Rubble was strewn throughout the city and nearby towns, blocking roads and hampering rescue teams and residents who tried to lift debris with their bare hands in a search for survivors from the quake, which had a magnitude of at least 5.8.

"Thousands of people (could be left) homeless and thousands of buildings collapsed or damaged," said Agostino Miozzo, an official at the Civil Protection Department.

A resident in l'Aquila standing by an apartment block that had been reduced to the height of an adult said: "This building was four storeys high." Some cars were buried by the rubble.

In another section of the city, residents tried to hush the wailing of grief to try to pinpoint the sound of a crying baby.

It was the worst earthquake in terms of deaths to hit Italy since 2002, when 30 children were killed in a school collapse in the south.

But officials said the death toll from this earthquake could be worse because more buildings were damaged over a wider area.

[Rasputin]

زمین لرزه در مرکز ایتالیا تلفات و خساراتی برجای گذاشته است

چندین تن در اثر فرو ریختن ساختمانها کشته و زخمی شده اند
وقوع زمین لرزه در مناطق مرکزی ایتالیا تلفات و خساراتی را بر جای گذاشته است.

در ساعات اولیه بامداد روز دوشنبه، 6 آوریل (17 فروردین)، زمین لرزه ای به بزرگی شش و سه دهم درجه در مقیاس ریشتر شهر قدیمی لاکوئیلا، واقع در نود و پنج کیلومتری شمال غرب رم، پایتخت ایتالیا را به لرزه در آورد و به گفته منابع محلی، در اثز این زمین لرزه دست کم چهارده نفر کشته و تعدادی زخمی شده اند و چند ساختمان در این شهر فرو ریخته و به تعدادی ساختمان دیگر نیز خسارات هایی وارد آمده است.

در مورد آمار تلفات و خسارات این زمین لرزه، که در ساعت حدود سه و نیم بامداد به وقت محلی و در عمق ده کلیومتری سطح زمین روی داد، گزارش های متفاوتی مخابره شده است.

گزارش های اولیه حاکی از آن بود که دو نفر در این زمین لرزه کشته و تعدادی دیگر زخمی شده اند و چند ساختمان نیز فرو ریخته است.

در گزارش های بعدی تعداد تلفات زمین لرزه تا بیش از بیست نفر نیز گزارش شده اما هنوز آمار نهایی در این زمینه انتشار نیافته و در حالیکه جستجو در زیر آوار ادامه دارد، بیم افزایش آمار تلفات می رود.


لاکوئیلا از شهرهای قدیمی و دارای بناهای تاریخی است
شبکه های تلویزیونی تصاویری از ساختمان های فرو ریخته و آسیب دیده شهر، از جمله یک بنای مسکونی ویران شده و یک خوابگاه دانشجویی، و جستجوی امدادگران در میان آوار را نشان داده اند.

این زمین لرزه باعث بروز اختلالاتی در شبکه برق رسانی و مخابرات منطقه نیز شده است.


لاکوئیلا از شهرهای قدیمی ایتالیاست و دارای تعدادی بناهای قدیمی مربوط به دوره قرون وسطی است.

در پی وقوع زمین لرزه اصلی، چند پس لرزه خفیف در این منطقه گزارش شده است.

یک خبرنگار ایتالیایی به بی بی سی گفته است که محله های مرکزی شهر لاکوئیلا به خصوص آسیب جدی دیده و تعدادی از ساکنان این محله ها خانه های خود را ترک کرده و عازم مناطق دیگر شده اند.

روز یکشنبه دو زمین لرزه خفیف تر در همین منطقه روی داد اما خساراتی بر جای نگذاشت.

وقوع زمین لرزه های شدید در ایتالیا واقعه ای نسبتا نادر است اما در سال 1997، سیزده نفر در زلزله ای که مناطق مرکزی ایتالیا را لرزاند جان خود را از دست دادند.

[Rasputin]

Carabinieri police officials say at least 20 people have died in a powerful earthquake that struck central Italy, collapsing buildings and leaving thousands of people homeless.

Officials say the death toll is likely to rise as rescue crews make their way through the debris.

Italy's National Institute of Geophysics put the quake's magnitude at 5.8, though the U.S. Geological Survey said it was 6.3.

Officials said the quake struck about 70 miles (110 kilometers) northeast of Rome at 3:32 a.m. local time (0132 GMT). The Civil Protection Department said the epicenter was near the city of L'Aquila, in the mountainous Abruzzo region.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

L'AQUILA, Italy (AP) — A powerful earthquake struck central Italy early Monday, killing at least 16 people, collapsing buildings and leaving thousands of people homeless, officials and news reports said.

Officials said the death toll was likely to rise as rescue crews made their way through the debris. Firefighters aided by dogs were trying to rescue people from crumbled homes, including a student dormitory where half a dozen students remained trapped, RAI state TV reported.

A student who was not identified told RAI they were awakened by the quake and ran down the stairs of the dorm before the roof collapsed.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude of the quake was 6.3, though Italy's National Institute of Geophysics put it at 5.8.

The quake struck about 70 miles (110 kilometers) northeast of Rome at 3:32 a.m. local time (0132 GMT), officials said. The Civil Protection Department said the epicenter was near the city of L'Aquila, in the mountainous Abruzzo region.

By early morning, the death toll stood at 16, including five children, with some 30 people unaccounted for, the ANSA news agency reported, citing the Civil Protection Department. The town of Castelnuovo appeared particularly hard hit, with five of the 16 dead there.

"It's the worst tragedy since the start of the millennium," said Guido Bertolaso, the head of the Civil Protection Department.

Residents and rescue workers were hauling away debris from collapsed buildings by hand while bloodied victims waited to be tended to in hospital hallways.

"We left as soon as we felt the first tremors," said Antonio D'Ostilio, 22, as he stood on a street in L'Aquila with a huge suitcase piled with clothes he had thrown together. "We woke up all of a sudden and we immediately ran downstairs in our pajamas."

Nearby, firefighters successfully pulled a woman covered in dust from the debris of her four-story home. Rescue crews demanded quiet as they listened for signs of life from other people believed still trapped inside.

Agostino Miozzo, an official with the Civil Protection Department, said between 10,000 and 15,000 buildings were damaged.

"This means that the we'll have several thousand people to assist over the next few weeks and months," Miozzo told Sky Italia. "Our goal is to give shelter to all by tonight."

Four children died in L'Aquila after their houses collapsed, ANSA said. They quoted doctors at the main San Salvatore dell'Aquila hospital as saying there was nothing they could do for them.

ANSA said the dome of a church in L'Aquila collapsed, while the city's cathedral also suffered damages.

L'Aquila Mayor Massimo Cialente said some 100,000 people had left their homes and that many buildings in the city's historic center were damaged.

A series of jolts have struck the area over the past two days.

L'Aquila, a medieval city, lies in a valley surrounded by the Apennine mountains. It is the regional capital of the Abruzzo region, with about 70,000 inhabitants.

Bertolaso likened Monday's quake to the temblors that struck the central Umbria region on Sept. 26, 1997. That quake killed 10 people and devastated medieval buildings and churches, including Assisi's famed basilica, across the region.

The last major quake to hit central Italy was a 5.4-magnitude temblor that struck the south-central Molise region on Oct. 31, 2002, killing 28 people, including 27 children who died when their school collapsed.

[siamak]

[Rasputin]

More than 90 dead in Italian earthquake

A powerful earthquake struck central Italy as residents slept on Monday morning, killing more than 90 people and making up to 50,000 homeless.

"Some towns in the area have been virtually destroyed in their entirety," a somber Gianfranco Fini, speaker of the lower house of parliament, said before the chamber observed a moment of silence.

The Italian news agency Ansa, quoting rescue workers, said the death toll had reached 92 nearly 12 hours after the quake struck.

Most of the dead were in L'Aquila, a 13th-century mountain city about 100 km (60 miles) east of Rome, and surrounding towns and villages in the Abruzzo region.

Houses, historic churches and other buildings were demolished in the worst quake to hit Italy in nearly 30 years. Hundreds of people were injured and some 15,000 buildings declared off limits.

"I woke up hearing what sounded like a bomb," said Angela Palumbo, 87, said as she walked on a street in L'Aquila.

"We managed to escape with things falling all around us. Everything was shaking, furniture falling. I don't remember ever seeing anything like this in my life," she said.

Interior Minister Roberto Maroni visited the area and said the death toll had surpassed 50.

Luca Spoletini, a Civil Protection Department spokesman, said the quake may have made up to 50,000 people homeless. Some 26 cities and towns were seriously damaged.

In the small town of Onna alone, 10 people were killed, said a Reuters photographer who saw a mother and her infant daughter carried away in the same coffin.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi canceled a trip to Moscow and declared a national emergency, which would free up funds for aid and rebuilding. Pope Benedict said he was saying a special prayer for the victims.

Older houses and buildings made of stone, particularly in outlying villages that have not seen much restoration, collapsed like straw houses.

Hospitals appealed for help from doctors and nurses throughout Italy. The stench of gas filled some parts of the mountain towns and villages as mains ruptured.

Residents of Rome, which is rarely hit by seismic activity, were woken by the quake, which rattled furniture and swayed lights in most of central Italy. It struck shortly after 3:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) and registered between 5.8 and 6.3 magnitude.

"MY FATHER IS SURELY DEAD"

"When the quake hit, I rushed out to my father's house and opened the main door and everything had collapsed. My father is surely dead. I called for help but no one was around," said Camillo Berardi in L'Aquila.

Rubble was strewn throughout the city of 68,000 people and nearby towns, blocking roads and hampering rescue teams. Old women wailed and residents armed with nothing but bare hands helped firefighters and rescue workers tear through the rubble

"Thousands of buildings collapsed or were damaged," said Agostino Miozzo, a Civil Protection official.

A resident in L'Aquila standing by an apartment block that had been reduced to the height of an adult said: "This building was four storeys high."

Some cars were buried by the rubble.

In another part of the city, residents tried to hush the wailing of grief to try to pinpoint the sound of a crying baby.

There were numerous reports of some of the area's centuries-old Romanesque and Renaissance churches collapsing.

Part of a university residence and a hotel collapsed in L'Aquila and at least one person was still trapped.

The quake brought down the bell tower of a church in the center of L'Aquila. Bridges and highways in the mountainous area were closed as a precaution.

Weeks before the disaster, an Italian scientist had predicted a major quake around L'Aquila, based on concentrations of radon gas around seismically active areas.

Seismologist Gioacchino Giuliani was reported to police for "spreading alarm" and was forced to remove his findings from the Internet. Italy's Civil Protection Agency reassured locals at the end of March that tremors being felt were "absolutely normal" for a seismic area.

The quake was the latest and strongest in a series to hit the L'Aquila area on Sunday and Monday. Earthquakes can be particularly dangerous in parts of Italy because so many buildings are centuries-old. About 2,700 people died in an earthquake in the south in 1980.

[Rasputin]

Italy lives with quake threat

Powerful tremors are an ever present danger in Italy.

The region is seismically very active, and some events bear comparison with the most catastrophic anywhere in the world.

In 1908, thousands died in a 7.2-magnitude quake which reduced the Sicilian city of Messina to rubble. A tidal wave followed causing more devastation.

Experts say quakes have influenced everything in Italy from the distribution of the population and adaptation of architecture to the dialect spoken in different parts of the nation.

The US Geological Survey said Monday's quake was a 6.3-magnitude event, striking at 0330 (0130 GMT) close to L'Aquila city, about 95km (60 miles) north-east of Rome.

Italy's National Institute of Geophysics put it at 5.8. Disagreements about the amount of energy involved are not unusual in the immediate aftermath of a quake and later analysis will likely refine numbers further.

The hypocenter - the point below the surface where the strain in the rocks was released - appears to have been some 10km down.

"An earthquake of magnitude six on average we get about one every three days somewhere in the world," explained Dr Roger Musson, head of seismic hazards at the British Geological Survey.

"But of course a lot of these are in places out at sea where they don't cause any damage and so people don't realise they're so frequent. It's when you get an earthquake in a populated area like central Italy that they become a serious matter."

Major fault system

On the big scale, Mediterranean seismicity can be seen in the context of the great collision between the African and Eurasian tectonic plates; but when it comes down to the specifics of Monday's event, the details are far more complicated.

Set against Africa's march northward at about 2cm a year, Italy is also being pulled and pushed in some complex motions.

The Tyrrhenian Basin, or Sea, which lies to the west of the country, between the mainland and Sardinia/Corsica, is slowly opening up.

Scientists say this is contributing to extension, or "pull-apart", along the Apennines, the belt of mountains that runs down through central Italy.

And to the east, in the Adriatic, there is some evidence that the Earth's crust continues to move under (subducting) Italy, although there is considerable debate about this. Recent GPS data suggests this region, too, is shifting to the northeast.

What is not in doubt from all this complexity is the major fault system that runs the length of the Apennines and the series of smaller faults that fan off to the sides.

Aftershocks are likely to be common. There was M4.8 event just a few hours after the main quake on Monday, and others of similar scale could follow, warn seismologists.

The 1997 M6.4 event, which caused serious damage to the Basilica of St Francis in Assisi, ruining priceless Mediaeval frescoes, occurred about 50km to the north.

It was marked by a series of aftershocks on following days. One of these measured 5.1 and caused considerable further damage.

"Routine earthquake prediction is not possible anywhere in the world," said Dr Musson.

"Given the chaotic nature of earthquake occurrence, it may never be possible. In the case of the L'Aquila earthquake, some warning might have been taken by the series of foreshocks that preceded it - though there is no way to discriminate between foreshocks and normal small-magnitude seismicity, other than with the benefit of hindsight. Aftershock activity has been intense so far."

[Rasputin]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/world/2009/04/090406_ag_italy_quake_pics.shtml

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

Italian rescuers work into night

Floodlights are aiding rescuers sifting rubble for signs of life after the devastating Italian earthquake, while thousands face a night in shelters.

At least 150 people are dead, dozens missing, 1,500 injured and some 50,000 homeless after the pre-dawn quake struck L'Aquila and its region.

Emergency crews have reportedly pulled 60 people alive from the rubble.

Survivors are being housed in hotels or a tent city which has been erected in the medieval hill city.

A BBC correspondent in L'Aquila says there was a strong aftershock in the city around 2200GMT, which lasted for around two seconds and made the ground feel like jelly.

It was the strongest in a number of tremors felt throughout the day.

Many houses in L'Aquila have been reduced to piles of rubble, dotted with crushed cars.

In one area of L'Aquila, rescuers tried to hush wails of grief as they pinpointed the screams of people trapped beneath debris, a Reuters correspondent reports.

In the village of Onna, population 350, the quake killed at least 24 people.

"There's a lot of people dead, there's a lot of people dead," said villager Valentina Brunetto.

"They're young people, young people dead under the house."

Weather breaks

The clear, sunny day which dawned amid the dust of shattered centuries-old buildings has given way to a night of rain, hampering the rescuers.

Brick dust turned to a white sludge but still exhausted emergency workers pulled away bricks and broken pieces of wood with their bare hands, lessening the risk of further casualties that the use of cranes and diggers might pose.

At least 5,000 rescue workers are in the region and hospitals, Reuters reports, have appealed for help from doctors and nurses throughout Italy.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has said the country has the resources to handle the disaster.

As dozens of after-shocks rattled the region, many survivors were being bussed to hotels on the Adriatic coast, where up to 10,000 places have been made available.

The state of emergency in place means that more resources can be brought in to give the region what it needs, the BBC's Duncan Kennedy reports from L'Aquila.

"We're hoping they give us a tent or something to sleep under tonight," Isenia Santilli, 70, told AFP news agency as she took shelter at a L'Aquila sports field where the Red Cross was feeding survivors.

Francesco Rocha, commissioner of the Italian Red Cross, put the number of homeless at about 50,000.

First priority for the agency, he told the BBC, was to save the lives of people still under the collapsed buildings.

"Second, is to organise the lives of the homeless. We are arranging field kitchens, beds and other items to organise their lives for the next days."

Shattered heritage

Between 3,000 and 10,000 buildings are thought to have been damaged in L'Aquila, making the 13th Century city of 70,000 uninhabitable for some time.

Parts of many of the ancient churches and castles in and around the city have collapsed.

L'Aquila is considered one of Italy's architectural treasures.

"The damage is more serious than we can imagine," Giuseppe Proietti, a culture ministry official in Rome, told the Associated Press.

"The historic centre of L'Aquila has been devastated."

Correspondents note that the very age of many of the country's buildings makes them particularly vulnerable to earthquake damage.

Italy lies on two fault lines and has been hit by powerful earthquakes in the past, mainly in the south of the country.

Much of the centre of L'Aquila had to be rebuilt after an earthquake in 1703.

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L'AQUILA

Medieval city, founded in the 13th Century

Capital of the mountainous Abruzzo region

Population 70,000, with many thousands more tourists and foreign students

Walled city with narrow streets, lined by Baroque and Renaissance buildings

[Rasputin]

Italy finds quake survivors, but hopes fading

Rescuers used mechanical diggers and their bare hands to search through the night Tuesday for survivors of Italy's worst quake in three decades which killed nearly 180 people.

More than 24 hours after the quake shook the central Italian region of Abruzzo, emergency workers dug out two students early Tuesday from collapsed buildings in L'Aquila, the medieval mountain city of 68,000 people worst hit by the disaster.

Rescuers have pulled some 100 people from the rubble but with other missing, civil protection officials said hopes were dimming of finding many more alive.

Early Tuesday morning civil protection officials put the number of dead at 179. There were at least 34 people missing and 1,500 injured. They said the number of homeless was at least 17,000, far less that the some 50,000 estimated Monday.

The quake, measuring between 5.8 and 6.3 on the Richter scale, struck shortly after 3:30 a.m. (9:30 p.m. EDT) Monday, catching residents in their sleep and flattening houses, ancient churches and other buildings in 26 cities and towns.

Aftershocks rattled the area, some 100 km (60 miles) east of Rome in the rugged Abruzzo region, well into the night as thousands of people sheltered in their cars and in tent camps.

"It is a serious disaster. Now we must rebuild and that will require huge sums of money," said Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose government already faces a high deficit and huge public debt.

Berlusconi declared a national emergency and pledged to seek hundreds of million of euros in EU disaster funds.

In L'Aquila, civil protection officials estimated two-thirds of buildings had been ruined. By the glare of floodlights, emergency workers and firemen combed the rubble of a university dormitory, where several students were still believed buried.

Each successful rescue sparked celebrations by anxious relatives and emergency workers, many of them volunteers. A fireman recounted how he pulled a boy alive from the mangled remains of his house after a day-long search.

"All we could see was his head sticking from the rubble, his entire body was buried. We kept digging, picking piece by piece of debris and we finally managed to get him out -- when we did the fatigue was great but so was our joy," he said.

"DON'T GO BACK TO YOUR HOUSE"

Police patrolled houses ripped open by the quake and arrested several people for looting. Thousands of tents were put up in parks and on football pitches to shelter the homeless for the night and hotels on the Adriatic coast were requisitioned.

"It's been such a hard and long day. Now that we are sitting here in our car it's all beginning to sink in," said L'Aquila resident Piera Colucci as she prepared to sleep in her vehicle.

Berlusconi, already scrambling for funds to cope with an economic crisis, said his cabinet would provide 30 million euros ($40.60 million) for immediate assistance and vowed to build a new town near L'Aquila in the next two years. He ordered 1,000 troops to the area Tuesday.
"Tonight don't go back to your houses, it could be dangerous," Berlusconi told residents on state television.

Shaken survivors described the quake striking like a bomb in the night and the anguish of not knowing the fate of loved ones.

"I only remember this huge rumble and then someone dragged me out, but I don't know what happened to my wife and three-year-old son," said 35-year-old Stefano Esposito.

It was Italy's worst earthquake since November 1980, when a quake measuring 6.5 killed 2,735 people. Many of the medieval villages surrounding L'Aquila were virtually flattened.

In Onna, home to some 250 residents, at least 38 people died. Tearful relatives gathered while wooden coffins were placed on communal ground.

As messages of condolences poured in from across the world, Italian politicians put aside rivalries and united in mourning.

But there was still room for controversy. Weeks before, an Italian scientist predicted a major quake around L'Aquila based on the radon gas found in seismically active areas, but he was reported to police for "spreading alarm" and was forced to remove his findings from the Internet.

"For weeks they told us to stay calm, that we could live in our houses, that there was no problem. Now we see what the problem was," one female resident of L'Aquila told state TV.

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

Italy earthquake death toll rises

Rescuers searched by lamplight in freezing temperatures for a second night for survivors of an earthquake in central Italy and pulled out 15 more bodies, bringing the death toll to 250.

Thousands of survivors of Italy's worst quake in three decades passed a fitful night in tent villages as a series of strong aftershocks hit the mountainous region of Abruzzo, hampering rescue efforts and causing at least one more death.

Aftershocks rattled the ground throughout the night, straining the nerves of the local population.

The strongest on Tuesday night toppled buildings, including parts of the basilica and the station, as the sun set on the historic mountain city of L'Aquila, which bore the brunt of the disaster.

L'Aquila's mayor said the 5.6 magnitude aftershock left one resident dead while in Rome, 100 km (60 miles) to the west, furniture shook in the upper floors of buildings. A 76-year-old Roman man was reported to have died of a heart-attack.

"In the last two nights, I've slept three hours at most. I feel physically and mentally tired from the lack of sleep and the fear," said Ilaria Ciani, 35, spending the night in a large blue tent at a survivors' camp in a sports field near L'Aquila.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has declared a national emergency and sent troops to the area, set up 20 tent camps and 16 field kitchens to provide hot food and accommodation for 14,000 people.

Hundreds of emergency workers, many of them volunteers, used mechanical diggers and their bare hands to remove piles of rubble in L'Aquila and nearby villages devastated by the quake.

On Tuesday night rescuers burst into applause when a 20-year-old girl was found alive 42 hours after the quake in the ruins of a four-storey building.

"A rescue like this is worth six months work," said Claudio, a fireman from Venice.

At least 250 bodies were being stored in a makeshift mortuary at a school for Italy's Finance Police outside L'Aquila, local media reported.

The first funeral of a victim was due to take place on Wednesday, in the town of Loreto Aprutino, led by the archbishop of Pescara. Some 1,000 people remain injured, about 100 seriously, and fewer than 50 were missing.

Many of the victims were students at L'Aquila's university. A fireman from the port of Pescara who came to help rescue efforts collapsed in tears after unearthing the body of his stepdaughter, who was studying there.

Working by floodlight, rescuers used a crane to dismantle a ruined university dormitory in the hope of finding survivors. As darkness fell, workers dragged out the bodies of two of the four students still missing.

FOREIGN SOLIDARITY

Authorities estimate 17,000 people have lost their homes, leaving them facing a grim Easter weekend. With many local churches badly damaged, people prepared to celebrate the feast in makeshift chapels in the tent villages.

Berlusconi, whose government already faces a huge public debt, said he would try to access hundreds of millions of euros in EU disaster funds to rebuild Abruzzo within two years.

Shows of solidarity came from home and abroad, with U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin among leaders calling Berlusconi to express sympathy and offer aid.

The prime minister has said Italy did not require foreign aid, but opposition leaders have urged him to reconsider, in the first sign of political divisions over the disaster.

Italian soccer teams said revenue from this weekend's matches would be sent to help victims. Universities and newspapers throughout the country took collections, while hotels provided thousands of cheap rooms for survivors and rescuers.

Officials said the quake would severely affect the region's economy, much of which is based on tourism, agriculture and small, family-run businesses. Police increased their patrols on the streets amid reports of looting of homes and shops.

Some residents and experts expressed anger that even supposedly earthquake-proof modern buildings had collapsed.

"In California, an earthquake like this one would not have killed a single person," said Franco Barberi, head of a committee assessing quake risks at the Civil Protection Agency.

Monday's quake was particularly lethal because it struck shortly after 3:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) as residents slept. Flattening houses, centuries-old churches and other buildings in 26 cities and towns, it was the worst since November 1980, when some 2,735 people died in southern Italy.

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]