More earthquakes in central Italy
 

Central Italy, especially Abruzzo and the interior zones of Le Marche, along with eastern Lazio and Umbria, have been hammered in the last few days by a winter storm, which left four feet of snow in some mountain regions. Last night, I heard on the news that 25% of Abruzzo was without electricity, and telephone service was also badly affected.

These are the zones that were devastated by earthquakes in August and October. Many people who couldn't leave the area because of jobs or other obligations, are living in temporary housing, basically in containers that have been subdivided into rooms. On isolated farms, other people who need to care for their livestock are living in campers. Some of the temporary barns erected on these farms had roof collapses because of the weight of the snow, and there were other roof collapses. Many villages were unreachable because of heavy snow drifts.

So what else could go wrong? This morning the area was hit by four fairly strong earthquakes, ranging from 5.1 to 5.7 on the Richter scale, over a period of four hours, with many smaller shocks in between. To all their other woes, there were now avalanches. It's almost impossible to assess the damage because of the lack of phone service and the difficulty of clearing the roads.

The advice in an earthquake is to go outdoors. How could one do that in the middle of a snowstorm, with over a meter of snow outside?

It's almost beyond belief.

I thought I had tagged that for Italy, but it's not tagged. Sorry.

Oh my, so far away from the Italy of tourism, Venice vs Florence, Rome 3 days or 5...So sad for these people. I hope they are getting some disaster relief...and hope you're okay bvlenci. You're on the coast, is that right?

We're near the coast, and rather north of the epicenter. We didn't get a whole lot of snow, and it changed to rain during the night. I don't think the quakes did any damage here, either, although they evacuated the schools twice, just in case. I felt all four of them, but we're on the second floor (3rd for Americans).

So actually we're fine, although we do have a bit of concern for our summer home.

Good to hear you're okay. It must be quite stressful for people who have already been living through these earthquakes over the last months.

I see on the news that the Metro in Rome was evacuated for safety reasons...That doesn't happen too often I bet.

So sorry to hear this! The last thing that area needs-bad wether and another earthquake.

It's still snowing heavily there, and it's expected to continue into tomorrow. It was already a record snowfall as of yesterday evening.

I'm watching the evening news right now. A man who lives in the affected area said that they're expecting a plague of locusts next.

The earthquakes, mostly small, have been almost continuous in the central Apennines since August. Every so often, I check the list of recent earthquakes on www.ingv.it and I've never seen a day where that area didn't have several, mostly small, each hour. They only register those over 2.0 on the Richter scale.

Oh dear, that is terrible news. Those poor people. And here I was worried about the cold front supposed to hit tomorrow that might cause power outages. We should be so lucky.

Sad to hear the bad news, bvlenci. My thoughts are with the people who are suffering the earthquakes and the heavy snow - such a double disaster.

So sorry to hear this. I've been sitting here in my snug little house in Maine watching the snow fall all day and complaining about how long it took for the town snowplow to come through so we could get out and about. Thinking about what folks are having to contend with in your area certainly makes me feel pretty ashamed. Hoping for better days to come for all of you.

I'm watching the evening news right now. A man who lives in the affected area said that they're expecting a plague of locusts next. >>

good he hadn't lost his sense of humour!

it sounds terrible, bvl, i can't imagine what it would be like to have to run outside into the freezing snow to escape an earthquake.

We can only hope that the earthquakes will wear off and the snow will stop soon.

Kind of reminiscent of what happened in Japan a few years ago.

There's a hotel in Abruzzo that is known to have been hit by a huge avalanche, with snow and earth detached from the mountain by the earthquake. There are 25 to 30 people, including guests and staff, unaccounted for, and feared dead. Rescuers on skis managed to arrive many hours later, but they could do little. They found two people alive, who just happened to be outside when the earthquake hit. One of them said his wife and two children were inside when the hotel was buried by the snow. Now heavy equipment, ambulances, and rescue dogs have arrived, but 24 hours have passed, and there are no sounds of life from inside.

The hotel was on the slopes of the Gran Sasso, a large mountain on the border between Abruzzo and Le Marche. This is an area with ski slopes and popular for other winter sports.

It's still snowing there, and expected to continue snowing all day today. The noon news today said that there are drifts of five metres (about 15 feet) in places. There have been other avalanches, but the extent of damage is still not known. In this sparsely populated area, it may take days to reach some isolated settlements.

We spend our summers somewhat north of here, and I know very well that it can take almost an hour in good weather to reach a point only five miles away as the crow flies. The roads up the mountains are a series of narrow switchbacks. There are poles along the roads marked in meters so that you can see where the road is when there's snow, and determine how deep it is. However, the poles, if I remember correctly, are only three meters high, so many of them may be buried by this snowfall, without historical precedent. If you miss the road, you could drive right over the edge of a cliff.

Difficult situation. I pray that the people who are stuck will be rescued soon, otherwise it's hard for them to hold on in this freezing weather.

Tragic.

nothing we can do or say will make this less painful.

This is so sad as I'm due to leave for Rome on the 31st January 2017 I can change my directions as I was just booking an airb&b in Montesilvano place of Pescara . Seeing I have 3months think I might take of from Rome down to Naples and Sicily do you think that is a better idea? As I know the weather is most unusual everywhere in the world thank you gentle

Praying for the people of Italy.

Pescara, which is in Abruzzo, is probably closer to the earthquake zone than Rome is. However, I don't think either has been affected in any serious way. The earthquakes were felt in both cities, but the damage has been largely confined to the mountains, and neither Rome nor Pescara is in the mountains.

If you're worried about snow, the forecast is for scirocco winds from North Africa by Sunday. This will warm things right up, but, unfortunately, it would increase the risk of avalanches.

Thank you so much, being so far away in Perth west.australia which is summer ( rather mild for us this time of the year) is hard to get your head around what is happening in parts of Italy usually we are 35/40degrees but I'm not complaining

By the way, I thought that hotel buried under an avalanche was in Abruzzo, but it seems actually to be in Le Marche.

bvl - I saw that it was in Abruzzo too - the BBC map shows il Gran Sasso.

I just checked, and it's definitely in Abruzzo. I heard Le Marche on the news today, but maybe I missed something.

I was woken up by the ping on my phone this morning - a news blip about the devastating acts of Nature in Italy! Being in the process of planning a trip to Le Marche this September during any and all my spare moments - it was "close to home." Also having lost our home during an earthquake ...
My prayers and best wishes are with the people of Italy.

Heartbreaking. All I can do is wish for the best for all involved.

I am so sorry.

They found about 8 people still alive earlier today - they are still looking for the rest. It must be a terrible job.

There are reports of more alive, but buried, besides the 8 rescued earlier. The hotel's two dogs also survived apparently.

I've just read that ten people have been rescued alive, including two children.

I keep hearing contradictory numbers. Sometimes they're talking about those already found, but not all yet brought out. There were three small children in the hotel, and I had heard recently that all three are alive.

The man who raised the alarm went out to his car to get some medicine, while his wife and two children waited inside. They were waiting for a snowplow to clear the road so they could leave. (In fact all the hotel guests were waiting to leave.) The trip for this family had been for the 6th birthday of one of the children. In the few minutes that he was outside, the avalanche hit the hotel. All the members of this family have been saved. The little girl is the only one who's been admitted to hospital.

The force of the avalanche flattened a grove of 100-year-old trees, and moved the hotel off its foundations and carried it 10 meters down the slope. It's a wonder that anyone inside survived. It was not a small hotel. either. Here is what it looked like before it was buried:

http://media.deluxeblog.it/h/hot/hot...gopiano_01.jpg

So good to hear some have been found alive, let's hope tomorrow brings more good news.

bvl - the BBC is saying that 6, not 8, were saved yesterday, and another 4 today. it's clearly a very confused situation.

We just heard 11 were rescued on the news here. It's definitely confusin.

Ann, it's mostly a confusion about who was "rescued". Some are counting the two men who were outside the hotel when the avalanche hit. Others are not counting them. Yesterday, there was also confusion about the count of people "found alive" versus people who had been extricated from the debris. On the news, I heard a newscaster trying, to no avail, to get a definition of the number that was being passed to him over the phone.

oh dear, bvl - thanks for explaining that. But it all seems a bit trivial arguing about how many have been saved, doesn't it? it must be a terrible job, searching for them and truly awful, waiting to be rescued.

I appreciate actual president of Italy (Matarella ? can't remember his name) thanking and praising the efforts of the rescuers.

Makes a change with Berlusconi who said that sleeping under a tent would like a holiday for the survivors of a previous earthquake.

Wikipedia says this BTW :

About 30 guests and staff were at the hotel, five of whom were confirmed dead.[13][14] At least nine people were rescued,[13][15] and two other people survived because they had been standing outside of the hotel when the avalanche hit.[16][17]

<i> it must be a terrible job, searching for them and truly awful, waiting to be rescued. </i>

Especially since there continue to be aftershocks in the area, and the temperature is rising, raising the risk of avalanches. The rescuers are putting themselves in harm's way, working (in shifts) 24 hours a day.

Hello all, I have to say that I am more than a little concerned about my upcoming trip (May) to Le Marche, the planning of which Bvlenci was a great help. My first agriturismo in Amandola wrote to me to say they were sorry that they would not be able to host me due to the damage of the two earthquakes last year, peccato, so I am staying now in Servigliano. I do have a question for Bvlenci somewhat unrelated...which telecom company is the most reliable to get an Italian SIM card for my unlocked iPhone 6? I would like local and international texting and some data as well as local phone calls. I arrive at Milan airport but need to hop a train presto a Firenze. Maybe it might be more convenient at the train station in Firenze. Thank you!