Earthquake in Italy

Earthquake in Italy
Yesterday in the night from 5 to 6 April, there was a large earthquake in Italy, in a place called l'Aquila, area of Abruzzen, in central Italy. Until now 207 people died. The strenght of the earthquake was at 6.3 on the Richter scale. I searched for the place and I found that already in 1703 there was a great eartquake and through the years successive earthquakes have regularly damaged the great cathedral of the city. I hope we will soon hear Frances with more news.

Italy is a high seismic risk area and the Abruzzi region is in a part of Italy where the risk is very very high. I didn't feel this earthquake, as I'm about 300 miles away from where it happened, but it was a real tragedy for people in Abruzzi. At the moment, there are 211 dead, 11 missing and 1,500 injured. About 70,000 people have been evacuated. Luckily, rescuers were quick to arrive and very well-organized in their task and many ordinary people volunteered to help by contributing to rescue operations and donations (of money and blood), though a hard road still lies ahead, even when rescue operations will be over. Now I am praying that a member of the Ioan Italian fan club who lives in L'Aquila and that we couldn't reach will let us know how she and here family are.

It's a terrible thing what's happening there. I'm sorry for all italian people.

Frances, I did not know there was a Ioan Italian fan club in l'Aquila. I hope that you will soon be able to contact that person and that she and her family are not in danger. This is al so sad. My prayers go to your country.

The fan club is not based in L'Aquila. It is a group founded by people from all over Italy who fell in love with Hornblower and came together to discuss about the series and then went on to follow Ioan through the projects that came next. I really hope that we will manage to get in touch with this young lady from L'Aquila.

That is terrible news. I saw it yesterday and was so scared for the people in Italy. I am most afraid of earthquakes, we once in a while have them not to big but not small either, but I get so scared that my face turns so white in face and become so pale. So sorry for the families and friends of those who died and have suffered this tragedy.

Oh Frances, I hope and pray that you have heard from your friend by now. It is a terrible tragedy and hopefully they will get aid quickly from other countries. They just showed pictures on the news and the damage looks horrific. The destruction to historic buildings. That is the difficulty, isn't it? How do you preserve ancient building, yet make them safe for habitation. And Selma, I find earthquakes quite frightening, too.

They just showed pictures on the news and the damage looks horrific. The destruction to historic buildings. That is the difficulty, isn't it? How do you preserve ancient building, yet make them safe for habitation. I just hope that it doesn't happen what happened 12 years ago in Umbria. In September/October 1997, a major earthquake hit Umbria and the images of the roof of St. Francis Basilica in Assisi collapsing became famous. The matter is that the restoration of the Basilica and other historic buildings took priority over the rebuilding of people's homes. Despite general admiration for the quality of the work and the awareness that the cultural heritage must be preserved, the fact the restoration of historic buildings was completed when there were thousands still living in trailer camps, unable to return to their homes, cause some bitterness.

I would guess it would be akin to the frustrations many homeowners are feeling in the U.S. right now. Some of the Banks and Mortgage Companies are getting bail out money while their clients are losing their homes because of upside down mortgages or people who want to buy can't get a loan. The big institution gets taken care of while the average people have to wait. I hope that it is not like that after this earthquake.

Hello. I just hope the italian goverment will be COOL and do the best (rebuilding homes). And say a scientist would have told Authorities that an earthquake would arrive and the Authorities would have not listened to him. If that is true, it would be very bad from the Authorities.

Hello. I just hope the italian goverment will be COOL and do the best (rebuilding homes). The Italian Government is doing a good job right now, coordinating operations, and 30 million Euros have already been assigned to the Abruzzi region. Even Madonna - whose family is originally from Abruzzi - promised to help. Reconstruction will have to wait though, as the earth is still trembling, making buildings collapse. And say a scientist would have told Authorities that an earthquake would arrive and the Authorities would have not listened to him. If that is true, it would be very bad from the Authorities. Unluckily, it is true that a seismologist warned the authorities that a major earthquake was about to hit that area and the authorities told him he was a scaremonger and one who was imagining things, and they even sued him. It is true that while there is a full-fledged plan to evacuate those living around the Mt. Vesuvius when scientists will say it is about to erupt, there was no plan in Abruzzi to evacuate local population in case of an earthquake and authorities were possibly fearing that spreading the word of a forthcoming earthquake would have caused panic and made the situation worse when it struck.

How very terrible all of this has been. My heart goes out to all the victims,and I sincerely hope the Ioan fans in that area are okay. Please let us know,Frances,if you hear any more news.

I sincerely hope you hear from our fellow Ioanista soon, Frances. I know she is just one of many, but somehow symbolic. I read about the scientist driving around playing warnings over a loud-haler on his van and the police stopped him. But hindsight is a wonderful thing, isn't it? I'm not sure how I would have reacted to such a thing...the Water Company does it here when they need to turn the water off suddenly; it would have been hard to take warnings of an earthquake seriously. It's a difficult call. :dunno

Today was declared a day of national mourning in Italy and a state funeral was held for 205 of the 289 victims of the earthquake. I still have no news of the Italian Ioanista from L'Aquila, but I think it is a matter of phone lines not working properly, as she is not in the list of victims.

View Full Version: Earthquake in Italy