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Hopes Dim for Survivors of Italy Quake; Death Toll Stands at 250 Hopes Dim for Survivors of Italy Quake; Death Toll Stands at 250
(about 7 hours later)
AMATRICE, Italy — For more than 24 hours, Alessandro Dalvit and his dog Muttley scampered over piles of rubble in three towns, including this one, where more than 190 people perished in a devastating earthquake that struck central Italy on Wednesday. AMATRICE, Italy — As relatives of the missing and the dead tearfully made their way to the makeshift morgue here in Amatrice, dust-covered rescuers worked Thursday in sweaty shifts, hoping to find people still alive under the remains of buildings destroyed by the earthquake in central Italy.
Muttley found 16 bodies, including those of an 8-month-old boy and his parents. Excavation machines moved rubble onto trucks to clear the streets of this quiet mountain town on Thursday, even as two strong aftershocks — among more than 400 since the 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck at 3:36 a.m. on Wednesday — jolted Amatrice again.
“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven — dead, morti,” Mr. Dalvit said, showing a reporter photographs on his smartphone, ending with an image of a row of coffins. “At least you are able to give the bodies back to their families.” One volunteer who was flown in by helicopter as part of a United Nations search-and-rescue team, Alessandro Dalvit, and his dog Muttley found 16 bodies, including those of an 8-month-old boy and his parents.
Mr. Dalvit, a volunteer who was brought in by helicopter as part of a United Nations search-and-rescue team, planned on Thursday to return to his base in Trento, in northern Italy. There were other rescue teams in Amatrice and, he said, the more time passes, “the less hope there is.” “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven — dead, morti,” Mr. Dalvit said, showing photographs on his cellphone, ending with an image of a row of coffins. “At least you are able to give the bodies back to their families.”
Excavation machines moved rubble onto trucks to clear the streets of this quiet mountain town, which resembled a war zone on Thursday, even as two strong aftershocks — among more than 400 since the 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck at 3:36 a.m. on Wednesday — jolted Amatrice yet again. As of Thursday afternoon, the death toll stood at 250, including victims from towns like Amatrice and Accumoli, both in the Lazio region, and the village of Arquata del Tronto,in the neighboring Marche region. The figure could rise again, given that some people remain unaccounted for.
The roads leading to Amatrice remained clogged with caravans of fire trucks, diggers, ambulances and sundry rescue vehicles waiting for orders on Thursday. A row of drab gray tents lined a field on the town’s edge, doubling as an ersatz morgue. “For this phase, it’s important that we continue to dig through the rubble and also offer assistance to the population, providing beds, and food, and letting them know that they’re not alone,” Nicola Zingaretti, the president of the Lazio Region, said as he walked briskly through the Amatrice neighborhood where various emergency coordination operations had been set up. “In tragedy there is complete solidarity.”
Outside, a small crowd of residents waited for names to be called. “They’re identifying the dead,” one police officer said. The number of missing in Amatrice remained unclear on Thursday, as local residents wondered aloud about tourists and seasonal workers, mostly from Romania, who arrive during the busy summer months. Romanian officials confirmed that five of their citizens had died in the quake, that four had been injured and that 11 others were missing. Two Spaniards also died, Italian officials said.
Some sobbed, while others clutched at one another for support. Speaking from Rome, Immacolata Postiglione, who runs the emergency unit at the Civil Protection Department, said that 215 people had been rescued from the wreckage of the earthquake. At least 264 people had been hospitalized, the Health Ministry said.
Amatrice’s mayor, Sergio Pirozzi, spent part of the morning in the makeshift morgue. In Saletta, another town damaged by the quake, Adriana Ciocchetti, a homemaker and a grandmother from Pagliano, near Frosinone, said she had not known what to expect when she arrived as a volunteer for the Italian Red Cross. “In cases like this, you just go,” Ms. Ciocchetti said.
“The identification has to be done right away — it’s hot,” said Giancarlo Carloni, the town’s deputy mayor. But the work was heartbreaking, she said. One woman she comforted on Wednesday had lost her family. “I was looking at a crushed house and said out loud, ‘I hope no one lived there,’ and a woman turned and said, ‘That’s where my daughter and grandchildren lived,’” Ms. Ciocchetti said.
As of Thursday afternoon, the death toll stood at 250: 193 in the town of Amatrice and 11 in Accumoli, both in the Lazio region, and 46 in the village of Arquata del Tronto, in the neighboring Marche region. The figure could rise again, given that some people remain unaccounted for. In Accumoli, rescue efforts have stopped. “People are so disoriented that many don’t even really realize what’s happened.”
In Amatrice, the number of missing remained unclear on Thursday, as locals wondered aloud about tourists and seasonal workers, mostly from Romania, who come during the busy summer months. Romanian officials confirmed that five of their citizens had died in the quake, that four had been wounded and that 11 others were missing. Two Spanish citizens also died, Italian officials said. The Italian Red Cross was one of the first organizations to arrive in Amatrice. “Within two hours of the quake we were ready to move,” said Ignazio Schintu, the organization’s emergency manager. By Wednesday evening, the Red Cross — with about 400 workers and volunteers — had set up medical services, emergency kitchens, washroom facilities and tents.
Across Amatrice, volunteers collected clothing, blankets, toiletries and food donated by individuals and institutions throughout Italy. “We’ve seen incredible solidarity, closeness, love, help from all of Italy,” with even the country’s struggling municipalities offering funds, said Mr. Carloni, the deputy mayor. “It makes me proud to be an Italian.” On Thursday, they were setting up a base camp on an athletic field in Amatrice for the workers assisting those left homeless and now living in tents. “Our psychologists are here to assist them,” Mr. Schintu said. “Many earthquake victims don’t want to sleep under any sort of covering, even a tent.”
The Civil Protection Department said that of the 3,400 beds that had been made available to those who had lost their homes, only about 1,200 were occupied Wednesday night. “People have to get over this first moment,” though the two strong aftershocks felt on Thursday “certainly don’t make it easier,” he said.
Those who could leave Amatrice, now a ghost town, did so, finding refuge with relatives or at second homes on the seaside, said Mr. Carloni, who spent the night with his wife in their car. His house was standing, he said, but she was afraid to stay in it. Just outside the town, a camp for 250 homeless survivors was being set up by Anpas, one of the dozens of volunteer associations that rushed to the quake area. Tents, for eight to 12 people each, were being prepared for their arrival.
Just outside the town, a camp for 250 homeless survivors was being set up on Thursday by Anpas, one of the dozens of volunteer associations that rushed to the quake area, and tents — each for eight to 12 people — were being prepared for their arrival.
Though temporary in nature, for some, they could become home for months.Though temporary in nature, for some, they could become home for months.
“In L’Aquila, people lived in tents from April to December — it was very long and cold,” said Andrea Cardoni, a spokesman for Anpas, referring to a 2009 earthquake in the neighboring Abruzzo region that killed nearly 300 people. He wore a T-shirt for the organization that stated, “The earth can tremble, but not people’s will.” Some Amatrice residents found themselves pressed into service as emergency workers, like the Rev. Savino D’Amelio, a parish priest, who helped guide to safety 27 people from his retirement home shortly after the quake hit. “There were three of us, moving wheelchairs,” Father D’Amelio said, still shaken. “We got them all out without a scratch.”
The Culture Ministry said on Thursday that all income generated from state museums on Sunday would be used to help provide relief in areas battered by the earthquake. The minister of culture and tourism, Dario Franceschini, urged Italians to go to museums to show solidarity with those affected by the quake. “Now we’re trying to help people, ease the desperation of those who lost children and teenagers,” he said. “I hope our strength holds out.”
In Amatrice, psychologists prepared to work the camps, helping victims, especially children, cope with their shock. Across Amatrice, volunteers collected clothing, blankets, toiletries and food donated by people and institutions throughout Italy. “We’ve seen incredible solidarity, closeness, love, help from all of Italy,” with even the country’s struggling municipalities offering funds, said Giancarlo Carloni, the town’s deputy mayor. “It makes me proud to be an Italian.”
“The first phase is the hardest,” said Mr. Cardoni, explaining that teachers, clowns and pet-therapy experts would be on hand. Outside the temporary morgue in Amatrice, a small crowd of residents waited for names of the dead to be called.
As the initial shock wore off, some turned to more prosaic thoughts. Some sobbed, while others clutched at one another for support.
Ernesto Bernardi, who runs a tourist destination, noted, “People are afraid, even if you build with all the anti-seismic architectural regulations.” “The identification has to be done right away — it’s hot,” Mr. Carloni said.
“I work with children and teams,” he said. “It’s safe, but I can’t put that in writing.” Fabrizio Curcio, the chief of Italy’s Civil Protection Department, praised the “great generosity” and “positive enthusiasm” on the part of the rescue workers and volunteers who had raced to the earthquake zone. But, he said, some volunteers will be asked to go home.
The future of tourism in the area, he said, “looks bleak for all.” “We are many, and only those who are necessary must remain,” he said.
Mr. Pirozzi, Amatrice’s mayor, said he hoped that the reconstruction — which Prime Minister Matteo Renzi insisted would take place, and quickly — would follow the example of Friuli, a region in northeastern Italy that was rebuilt after an earthquake in 1976. Those residents who could leave Amatrice, now a ghost town, did so, finding refuge with relatives or at second homes on the seaside, said Mr. Carloni, the deputy mayor, who spent the night with his wife in their car. His house was standing, he said, but she was afraid to stay in it.
Seven years after the 2009 earthquake, downtown L’Aquila is still mostly empty; palazzos have yet to rise from the ashes. Bishop Domenico Pompili of the nearby town of Rieti and the Rev. Fabrizio Borrello, a priest from the town, came to Amatrice on Thursday to offer spiritual comfort to the survivors and bless the bodies in the morgue.
Mr. Pirozzi said he hoped that the nationwide outpouring of support would help reconstruction. “There were a lot of them,” Father Borrello said. “But there are still many people missing,” including many families, so “there is no one to come and identify them.”
“We become Italians in three cases: for soccer, the Olympics and in emergencies,” Mr. Pirozzi said. “The first step is reconstruction, and to give a positive signal.” Efforts to find survivors in the rubble continued throughout the day, “but the probabilities are about down to zero,” said one officer with Italy’s Finance Police who declined to give his name because he was not authorized to speak to the news media.
Mr. Carloni, the deputy mayor, said he was an optimist. It would have been much worse, he said, had the earthquake occurred over the weekend, when as many as 40,000 people were expected for a festival celebrating the pasta sauce named after the town. Mauro Bellavita, a volunteer who came to Amatrice with four other volunteers from the town of Acquapendente, said he was not ready to give up. “Hope is the last thing to die,” he said.
“It could have been a tragedy of untold dimensions,” he said. “Amatrice is beautiful, and like all things, beauty comes at a price.”
In Rome, Immacolata Postiglione, head of the emergency unit at the Civil Protection Department, said that 215 people had been rescued from the wreckage of the earthquake. At least 264 people had been hospitalized, many children among them, the Health Ministry said.
Amid the devastation, there were glimmers of heroism and hope. A three-story convent on the edge of Amatrice was all but destroyed, as the two top floors came crashing down. But a nun who escaped said she would have remained trapped under the rubble, along with three other nuns and several retirees, if a young man had not rescued her. She called him “an angel.”
A video posted Wednesday evening showed a girl being pulled out of the rubble in Amatrice. Two rescue workers worked to remove debris to set her free. As she was pulled to safety, into the arms of one, onlookers burst into applause.