A strong earthquake claimed 237 lives and left hundreds injured in central Italy. The disaster came in the middle of the night, which reduced three central Italian towns to rubble.
It was 3:36am local time when the 6.2 magnitude earthquake hit. People were screaming and dying in the darkness across Amatrice, which is famous as the birthplace of a pasta dish made with tomatoes and pork cheeks.
Mayor Sergio Pirozzi of Amatrice, said that, "Half the town no longer exists."
"This is positive, as soon as the earthquake struck, people came from all over to help," said Riza Sinani, a nurse from the nearby town of Rieti.
"That doesn't happen in every country, this outpouring of humanity and good will."
“Unfortunately, 90 per cent we pull out are dead, but some make it, that’s why we are here,” said Christian Bianchetti, a volunteer from Rieti who was working in devastated Amatrice.
Despite a massive rescue and relief effort with army, carabineri, Alpine crews,firefighters, Red Cross crews and volunteers, it wasn’t enough.
“We are waiting for the military,” said resident Alessandra Cappellanti. “There is a base in Ascoli, one in Rieti, and in L’Aquila. And we have not seen a single soldier. We pay! It’s disgusting!”
Agostino Severo, a Rome resident visiting Illica, said workers eventually arrived after an hour or so. “We came out to the piazza, and it looked like Dante’s Inferno,” he said. “People crying for help, help.”
Dr Richard Walters, a lecturer in Earth sciences at Durham University in Britain, said that, “The Apennine mountains in central Italy have the highest seismic hazard in Western Europe and earthquakes of this magnitude are common.”
“I don’t know what to say. We are living this immense tragedy,” said a tearful Rev. Savino D’Amelio, a parish priest in Amatrice. “We are only hoping there will be the least number of victims possible and that we all have the courage to move on.”
“There are broken liquor bottles all over the place,” said Gino Petrucci, owner of a bar in nearby Arquata Del Tronto where he was beginning the long cleanup.
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