Death Toll From Powerful Earthquake Climbs To 247 In Central Italy
MEP: The death toll in a devastating earthquake that hit central Italian towns has climbed to 247 as rescuers desperately searched to find the survivors under the ruins of collapsed buildings.
On Thursday, Italy’s civil protection agency said a tally by local officials showed that 190 people were killed in Rieti Province and 57 in the province of Ascoli Piceno.
The US Geological Survey said it was a 6.2 magnitude quake that hit near the town of Norcia, in the region of Umbria on Wednesday.
More than 4,300 rescuers are using heavy lifting equipment and their bare hands.
Meanwhile, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) reported yet another 4.6-magnitude earthquake hit central Italy, some 66 km northeast from the town of Terni, with a population of over 220,000 people. It was the 22nd quake in the region in less than 24 hours.
Hundreds of people spent a chilly night in hastily assembled tents with the risk of aftershocks making it too risky for them to return home.
“Tonight will be our first nightmare night,” said Alessandro Gabrielli, one of hundreds preparing to sleep in tents in fields and parking lots in the small town of Amatrice, each one housing 12 people whose homes had been destroyed.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said many people were still trapped under the rubble, and vowed that “no family, no city, no hamlet will be left behind.”
