The death toll from a powerful earthquake in central Italy rose to 250 yesterday amid fears many more corpses remain buried in the rubble of devastated mountain villages, reports AFP. As rescuers sifted through collapsed masonry in the search for survivors, questions mounted as to why there had been so many deaths so soon after the 2009 L’Aquila disaster, exposing Italy’s vulnerability to earthquakes. “In Amatrice alone we are already over 200 deaths,” said Sergio Pirozzi, the mayor of one of the worst-affected villages, suggesting the total number of victims could rise significantly. Amatrice normally has a population of around 2,500 but it was packed with visitors when the quake struck as people slept in the early hours of Wednesday. The fate of 28 of 32 guests staying in the village’s Hotel Roma was still unclear. The Red Cross began shipping in food and water supplies for homeless residents. Among those who came to pick up emergency provisions were Maria Atrimala, 48, and her 15-year-old daughter. “We escaped by pure luck, the stairs of the house held and we ran, blindly in the dark and dust,” she said with tears rolling down her face.
“When we got out we could hear the cries of people still trapped and we helped those we could. “We were in L’Aquila when the earthquake struck there, and now this. We have friends, relatives that didn’t make it. What the future holds I don’t know.”
Hundreds of people spent the night sleeping in their cars, in hastily-assembled tents or as guests of families in less-affected nearby areas. One of them, Monica, said a 4.5-magnitude aftershock which rattled the area just after 5.00 am (0300 GMT) had left her numb.
“We have lost our house. So many friends and family are dead. We have lost everything, even our fear,” she said. Mario, the father of two small boys, said he was still in shock. “We slept in the car last night, though with the quakes it was hard to sleep at all,” he said between sips of Coke. The extensive damage to lightly-used properties has raised the spectre of some of the smaller hamlets in the region being abandoned altogether.
“If we don’t get help, l’Arquata is finished,” said Aleandro Petrucci, the mayor of Arquata del Tronto, which accounted for 57 of the confirmed deaths to date. Petrucci said it was impossible to say exactly how many people were in the 13 tiny communities that make up l’Arquata when the disaster struck.