liberosette

It's a sad morning in Italy today. Last night at 3:30 a.m. a terrible earthquake (megnetudo 5,8° on Richter scale) hit the Abruzzo, with epicenter in the province of L'Aquila. News are still sparse, but there are many collapses, some victims and thousands of displaced persons. Many old city centres, including L'Aquila, are hardly damaged, no informations from a lot of little villages. In L'Aquila also the "Home of Students" is partially collapsed, and it is supposed to be some people under. The earth tremor was felt in most part of central Italy, and a lot of tremors of less intensity are still shaking the earth. The Autoroute A24 Roma-L'Aquila is closed, and authority asks to everyone for not trying to reach the area.

hetismij

I heard this on BBC radio 4 when I awoke this morning. My thoughts are with everyone involved in this event, victims, and rescuers alike.
I can only hope that the death toll remains low, though I fear it will rise as the day goes on. At least 16 dead according to the BBC at the moment.
There is good coverage of this event on the BBC news website.

lincasanova

So sad and frightening. It seems a student residency was hit hard and those who escaped are saying they think they still have friends under the rubble.

jdc26

The news was just breaking as I was about to go to bed. They did not have much information other than the earthquake had hit. Now at the dawn of a new day, it appears the news is not so good. Prayers and thoughts to all.

jdc

bellastarr

This is an enormous tragedy liberosette. Now it is reported that at least 50 are killed and up to 50,000 homeless.

I hope our prayers will reach them and help them get through the endless devastating minutes of this nightmoare.

monicapileggi

Very sad indeed! I heard this on the radio this a.m. Prayers to everyone affected.

Monica

cmt

It looks very bad. There is now quite a bit of news, along with maps, photos, and videos, in the online newspapers, e.g., http://www.repubblica.it/2009/04/dir...tro/index.html
http://www.corriere.it/cronache/09_a...4f02aabc.shtml

LHS

This was the very first thing I heard this morning. So tragic, my heart & prayers go out to all.

LoveItaly

Here is the report along with many comments from people in Italy from the International Herald Tribune's website. It is in English.
http://global.nytimes.com/?iht

I woke up early this morning to hear of this terrible earthquake. My heart breaks for all those killed and injured and those that have not yet been found. The damage is terrible too, so many are now homeless. My son-in-law has numerous family members in Rome who obviously felt the earthquake but I am worried about his relatives that live in the mountains closer to L'Aquila.

My prayers are with all those affected by this heartbreaking tragedy. Thank you for posting Liberosotte

panecott

This is terrible news. I, too, have heard that the death toll is up to 50 and expected to rise, and tens of thousands are homeless. What a horrible tragedy!
I remember it was just a few years ago that Italy was hit with another terrible earthquake, in which many school children died.
My prayers and thoughts go out to the people of L'Aquila, and all of Italy.

panecott

LoveItaly, I hope that your son in law's relatives are okay.

LoveItaly

Thank you panecott. The ones in the mountains are basically all elderly so imagine if nothing else they are pretty shook up. I am sure relatives in Rome have called them. My son-in-law goes to work early and usually doesn't turn on the TV in the morning so I don't think he knows about the earthquake. And since it is only 6:30a.m. here I am sure my daughter is still asleep.

I just read on the IHT website I posted that 92 are dead and imagine the toll will continue to rise. This is worse than the earthquake in the Region of Molise which was in 2002 I believe. I was so worried then too as I have several friends in Molise. My close friend here that has all of her Italian relatives in Molise, the friends I referred too, couldn't get through to them on the phone. A friend of mine in Milan kindly called them and was able to reach them and called me back and I called my friend to report they were all safe. That was the earthquake you referred to panecott.

Earthquakes in Italy are a serious problem.

cmt

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/wo...ef=global-home

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090406/...italy_quake_18

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090406/..._earthquake_25

cmt

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNe...5352AH20090406

cmt

http://www.rainews24.rai.it/ran24/extra/live/

http://www.sky.it/common/tg24_live_697.html

LJ

My thoughts and prayers are there with my good friends who live in the Abruzzesse region where we once lived.

If anyone hears anything of Scanno, a town not too far from L'Aquila, would they please post? I have found nothing yet which I hope means good news for this beautiful small town that has been so hard hit by earthquakes in the past.

LoveItaly

I pray your dear friends are all right LJ. It is such a worry to be so far away. Can you call them? The call might not go through however as it sounds like phone service is down. I will hold a good thought.

corli33

I didn't realize that earthquakes hit Italy. I guess you learn something new everyday. It's so sad.

cmt

Corli33: Italy is a MAJOR earthquake area. It's an area with a lot of instability underground and has had many earthquakes, some very severe. One of the worst was in Messina in the early 20th century. There have been several Italian earthquakes in the news in the last few decades. For example there was a lot of publicity about the earthquakes in Umbria in 2002, I think (not too severe). I think one particularly bad earthuake in recent decades was in 1980 (approximately) in the inland south. I know that some parts of Basilicata were badly hit by that one. Italy also has several volcanoes, and I think they're all connected in some way. Etna and Stromboli erupt often, but in recent years they have been major eruptions. If Vesuvius ever has a major eruption again, it will be a major catastrophe because the surrounding area is so populated.

liberosette

I can't reach my cousin in L'Aquila yet, cellular lines are still out of order. I remember a Fodor's Forum user called sphillyguy who some weeks ago was looking for infos about Barisciano where his father was born and where some relatives still live. Barisciano is very close to the epicenter of today's quake. I hope all is good for them.