Afternoon:
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Students flee Italian earthquake in pyjamas
Nick Pisa in Rome and Amar Singh06.04.09
A MASSIVE earthquake hit central Italy today killing more than 90 people and leaving more than 50,000 homeless.
A major rescue operation was under way in the city of L'Aquila, which has a population of 80,000, as emergency workers searched for people beneath piles of rubble.
The death toll, which included five children, was expected to rise with officials estimating that between 3,000 and 10,000 buildings were damaged or had partially collapsed.
The 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck the medieval city about 70 miles north-east of Rome, just after 3.30am local time. As many as 26 towns in the mountainous Abruzzo region were reported to have been affected.
The quake "virtually destroyed" some towns, according to Gianfranco Fini, speaker of Italy's lower house of parliament. Interior minister Roberto Maroni said 2,500 rescue workers, including 1,500 firemen, had been sent to the area.
Parts of L'Aquila's main hospital were evacuated as they were at risk of collapse. Many victims were being treated in the open.
Emergency crews were focusing their attention on a university hall of residence in L'Aquila, which partially collapsed with half a dozen students thought to be trapped inside.
Outside, tearful students huddled together wrapped in blankets, some still in their pyjamas and slippers.
"We had to sneak through a hole in the stairs as the whole floor came down," said Luigi Alfonsi, 22. "I was in bed. It was like it would never end as I heard pieces of the building collapse around me."
The university has more than 16,000 students from around the world.
A state of emergency was declared by prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who cancelled a visit to Russia to deal with the crisis. He said thousands of people may have been injured. The Pope said: "I am praying for the victims and in particular for the children."
In Aquila, as dazed residents roamed the streets, Tancredi Vicentini, 33, ran after firemen pleading for help in digging out his 60-year-old mother from under a heap of mangled metal and concrete.
Firemen began picking up pieces with their hands, but the digging ended soon after. "Those in there are dead for sure," one said before moving on to another crumbling house nearby.
Angela Palumbo, 87, said: "I woke up hearing what sounded like a bomb. We managed to escape with things falling all around us. Everything was shaking, with furniture falling."
Antonio D'Ostilio, 22, had hastily packed a suitcase. He said he and his family were trying to get out of the city: "We left as soon as we felt the first tremors. We woke up all of a sudden and we ran downstairs in our pyjamas."
Nearby, firefighters pulled a woman covered in dust from the debris of her four-storey home. Elsewhere, residents tried to hush the wailing of grief to try to pinpoint the sound of a crying baby.
In one area, bulldozers were hauling away enormous slabs of buildings that had spilled over cars and on to the streets.
Four children were killed when their house collapsed in L'Aquila, while another child and an elderly woman died in nearby Fossa. Italian news reports said "the side of a mountain" had hit the town.
Five more people died in the Castelnuovo, a hamlet with a population of about 300 and in the small town of Onna, 10 people were said to have been killed.
The area around L'Aquila has been the scene of intense earthquake activity since October and before today's tremor there was another smaller one around midnight which was 4.6 in magnitude.
Guido Bertolaso, head of Italian civil defence, said: "Many, many buildings have collapsed and there are people trapped inside. Thousands of people have been left homeless and we are providing emergency shelters such as tents for them.
"This is the worst disaster to have hit Italy in the last 10 years and I would appeal to people not to go to the area."
Welfare minister Maurizio Sacconi urged people to give blood. To help the emergency services, the main motorway linking the city to Rome was closed and airspace was shut so helicopters could fly in tents and other supplies.
The quake was felt as far south as Naples. In Rome, the famed Terme di Caracalla baths were reported to have sustained damage.
It is the most deadly earthquake to hit Italy since 1980, when one measuring 6.5 killed nearly 3,000 people in the south of the country.
L'Aquila was virtually destroyed by tremors in 1461 and 1703.
Reader views (4)
Sad affair, my parents live there and they have a lot of these little villages scattered all over the mountains, trouble is they do have a lot of dodgy buildings, there's no control. My parents tell me that they get a least 6 to 10 ripples every year, some last 2secs, some 30 secs.
Just hope t hey can find some kind of shelter for all of them.
- Carlo Cusano, Bedford
I am a scientist but not a geologist. I don't know how much credence to give to peoples' forecasts, but I surely would give more credence to a scientist than to a politician who tries to quiet the masses.
- Philip Garrison, st polycarpe, quebec, canada
Nobody's fault just the African plate crashing into the European plate. Let’s hope they can rescue as many people as possible and I wish all the survivors a speedy recovery.
- Stephend, London, England
I am waiting for some people to blame Berlusconi for this.
- Carlo, Milan
