Earthquake Strikes Italy

WorldApril 2009 • Views: 2,139

A major earthquake has struck central Italy; at least 13 people have been reported killed, and the toll will undoubtedly go higher.

The quake, of a 6.3 magnitude, struck 53 miles northeast of Rome, said the US Geological Survey.

Four children are among the dead and thousands are said to be homeless.

The old town of l’Aquila, east of Rome in the mountainous Abruzzo region, was badly affected, with some buildings in the centre collapsing.

Italian agency ANSA reported the deaths of the four children. Other reports said at least 13 people had been killed.

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45 comments

redc1c4 Sun, Apr 5, 2009 10:35:55pm

bummer: hope no one's hurt

rawmuse Sun, Apr 5, 2009 10:36:19pm

I heard about it from some friends on Facebook who live in Roma. It sounds significant, not small.

dapperdave Sun, Apr 5, 2009 10:36:19pm

Sad, very sad indeed.

redc1c4 Sun, Apr 5, 2009 10:36:27pm

might help to read the whole article first.... my condolences to the families

redc1c4 Sun, Apr 5, 2009 10:37:23pm

i'm guessing retrofitting never caught on in Italy?

Wishing Sun, Apr 5, 2009 10:38:08pm

How the earthquake was felt in Italy

Wishing Sun, Apr 5, 2009 10:40:45pm

Aftershocks

Buster Bunny Sun, Apr 5, 2009 10:41:18pm

I told Vito not to turn the amp for the speakers up to 10 ....

... but does he listen?

dapperdave Sun, Apr 5, 2009 10:43:07pm

I got to call it a night, I have that thing I have to do in the morning...what's that called? oh! that's right "work" darn, oh well. Moses gave us the Saturday Sabbath and Jesus gave us the Sunday Sabbath now all we need are 5 more Jewish spiritual leaders and we'll be all set.

Pvt Bin Jammin Sun, Apr 5, 2009 10:46:11pm

My sympathies to the families and prayers for the injured and trapped.

redc1c4 Sun, Apr 5, 2009 10:46:38pm

i gotta say, this puts me complaining about my sunburn from sailing in perspective, and reminds me to add to my disaster preparedness program.

Wishing Sun, Apr 5, 2009 10:46:47pm

For a video of quake damage, en francais,
scroll down

realwest Sun, Apr 5, 2009 10:49:56pm

Sorry to go OT so early but CHARLES is the Jeff Goldstein you mentioned on the other thread the same
Jeff Goldstein of Protein Wisdom?
Cause if he is, he's an absolute nutter and an asshole.

DistantThunder Sun, Apr 5, 2009 10:50:04pm

Living in structures hundreds of years old would make me nervous. We lived in Sunnyvale during the Loma Prieta earthquake. Even when I hear the window rattle here in New Jersey I still think earthquake. No where to go, no place to hide.

NY Nana Sun, Apr 5, 2009 10:50:34pm

A lot of info from Sky...sadly 16 dead, photo and a video....

Tragic, and just barely a week before Easter.

Buster Bunny Sun, Apr 5, 2009 10:52:04pm

re: #15 NY Nana

A lot of info from Sky...sadly 16 dead, photo and a video....

Tragic, and just barely a week before Easter.

There is never a good time for a wholesale disaster. My thoughts and well wishes go out to every Italian who will be dealing with this disaster.

realwest Sun, Apr 5, 2009 10:53:28pm

Well I gotta get some sleep y'all - hope you all have a great evening/early morning and that I get the chance to see you all down the road.

Good night, all.

Pvt Bin Jammin Sun, Apr 5, 2009 10:56:12pm

re: #17 realwest

'
'weet dreams.

StudSupreme Sun, Apr 5, 2009 10:56:22pm

Hey, I know this region reasonably well.

Lots of old midieval buildings and stuff. Very rural, lightly populated. Very much off the beaten track for tourists, which makes it all the more interesting. It's a bit like traveling back in time 30-40 years and seeing Italy like it was back then. It's a nice region.

Vorrei offrire delle preghiere per le vittime, che Dio li abbracia.

NY Nana Sun, Apr 5, 2009 10:58:37pm

re: #14 DistantThunder

We live in Westchester County, and early in the AM of my youngest son's Bar Mitzvah, we had one here. It happened in what was an unknown fault in Ardsley, about 30 minutes from us.

My son was really scared, and asked my daughter if it was a bad omen...how she was so quick on her feet to reply that it was a good luck sign? Over 23 years later, she still teases him. All went well, but our Rabbi zt"l gave instructions on how to take care if there were any temblors. Luckily there were not.

And Indian Point is not all that far from the epicenter.We all want it to be closed down.

SanFranciscoZionist Sun, Apr 5, 2009 10:59:41pm

re: #9 dapperdave

I got to call it a night, I have that thing I have to do in the morning...what's that called? oh! that's right "work" darn, oh well. Moses gave us the Saturday Sabbath and Jesus gave us the Sunday Sabbath now all we need are 5 more Jewish spiritual leaders and we'll be all set.

Anyone here ever read a short story called 'Never Come Monday'? It's about a factory town where they suddenly decide on Monday morning that it's still Sunday, and don't go into work. A week of Sundays follows, with the factory owner getting more and more worked up by the day.

NY Nana Sun, Apr 5, 2009 11:00:28pm

re: #16 Buster Bunny

There is never a good time for a wholesale disaster. My thoughts and well wishes go out to every Italian who will be dealing with this disaster.

You are right. Same here re prayers and well wishes. It must be brutal for families in other parts of Italy, and world-wide, trying to get any news.

RememberSekhmet? Sun, Apr 5, 2009 11:03:30pm

Blessings to all who are affected.

Gus Sun, Apr 5, 2009 11:04:00pm

re: #21 SanFranciscoZionist

Anyone here ever read a short story called 'Never Come Monday'? It's about a factory town where they suddenly decide on Monday morning that it's still Sunday, and don't go into work. A week of Sundays follows, with the factory owner getting more and more worked up by the day.

Never on Sunday

Youtube Video

Pvt Bin Jammin Sun, Apr 5, 2009 11:05:50pm

re: #22 NY Nana

You are right. Same here re prayers and well wishes. It must be brutal for families in other parts of Italy, and world-wide, trying to get any news.

Absolutely. I can't even imagine.

We got a really cool package of emergency food supplies from by sil for Christmas but I am low on bottled water. I'd better get out and stock up.

Pvt Bin Jammin Sun, Apr 5, 2009 11:08:00pm

I'm heading on up-------------------------->

NY Nana Sun, Apr 5, 2009 11:10:17pm

re: #25 Pvt Bin Jammin

Absolutely. I can't even imagine.

We got a really cool package of emergency food supplies from by sil for Christmas but I am low on bottled water. I'd better get out and stock up.

One of my cousins and her husband and family lived in the Valley years ago, when there was an earthquake. As Easterners they were totally unprepared, and thank G-d they were not harmed physically. I think there were road collapses and also some deaths. Can't remember the name of the quake. Now they live in Orange County.

Got to go to sleep.....more prep for Passover today.

G'nite, all. Sweet dreams!

[deleted] Sun, Apr 5, 2009 11:10:48pm

Turtler Sun, Apr 5, 2009 11:11:46pm

As if there wasn't enough going wrong in the world today.

God help them, 'cause for a few hours there is little else that can.

[deleted] Sun, Apr 5, 2009 11:11:52pm

Alberta Oil Peon Sun, Apr 5, 2009 11:59:23pm

re: #6 Wishing

How the earthquake was felt in Italy

Looks like that map uses the Mercalli intensity scale, which is a measure of the 'quake's effects at a given point in the surrounding area. (Very comparable in concept to the Beaufort scale for wind velocity.)

Alberta Oil Peon Mon, Apr 6, 2009 12:00:55am

re: #8 Buster Bunny

That's kind of un-funny, given that people were killed.

Just Another Four-letter Word Mon, Apr 6, 2009 5:30:39am

Driving to work this morning I hear the toll is now 20, and probably will climb higher as rescue teams move rubble.

I sure wouldn't want to live in an old (as in, over 100 years) house in Europe, they didn't have the earthquake standards that we use today.

JAFLW

So? Mon, Apr 6, 2009 5:38:19am

Toll now 50 + dead ...

Emerald Mon, Apr 6, 2009 5:44:33am

Death toll now at 50, plus many believed to be trapped. I fear it's going to go higher as the full extent of the damage is revealed. There's a lot of old buildings in the area. Hopefully, the rescue crews can get their fast enough to prevent more tragedy.

Reuters is now running a story that a scientist predicted an earthquake was coming based on radon readings in the area, but the Italian government forced him to take down his forecasts because he was scaring people. I have no idea if he's a crackpot who got lucky or if he noticed something real, but it's not the type of story the government will want to deal with now.

lurking faith Mon, Apr 6, 2009 7:06:25am

Al Guardian, quoting Itialian news, has reported over 90 known dead: linky

At least 92 people were known to have died, the Italian news agency Ansa reported, quoting local rescue workers. More than 1,500 people had been injured, the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, told a press conference in L'Aquila, the badly damaged capital of the Abruzzo region, close to the quake's epicentre.

The numbers may not include surrounding villages, with even higher proportions of old construction. It's not clear from the story.

Prayers for them.

Basho Mon, Apr 6, 2009 9:12:24am

[Link: news.aol.com...]

L'Aquila Mayor Massimo Cialente said about 100,000 people were homeless. It was not clear if the mayor's estimate included surrounding towns. Some 10,000 to 15,000 buildings were either damaged or destroyed, officials said.

Zimriel Mon, Apr 6, 2009 9:13:03am

Heads are going to roll over this: Italy muzzled the scientist who warned of it. (Reuters) The villains would be the Civil Protection Agency and the leadership of L'Aquila.

I might get a delete for recommending tar and feathers; so I'll just recommend they haul all these assholes before a tribunal, find out who made these decisions, impeach them and sentence them to hard labour cleaning up the mess.

This Galileo of the seismologists name is one Gioacchino Giuliani. In what appears to be a fine Italian tradition, the state ordered him to unpublish his work, and he did.

Il se muove.

Zimriel Mon, Apr 6, 2009 9:15:22am

The National Geophysics Institute was in on the muzzling too.

And here's Berlusconi threatening a news blackout.

Charles, can we haz bump for this thread, with these links mentioned in the update?

Fabio P.Barbieri Mon, Apr 6, 2009 9:19:54am

re: #38 Zimriel

Zimriel, until the results are checked, you can never know whether this guy is a lucky crackpot or a genius. The consensus among seismologists (and Italy's seismologists are among the finest in the world, for obvious reasons) is that it is practically impossible to forecast an earthquake even by a matter of minutes. Such claims are all too common after any kind of natural disaster: remember the people who had the cure for AIDS and for hoof-and-mouth disease? I cannot remember one who did not turn out to be a crank or a fraud.

Fabio P.Barbieri Mon, Apr 6, 2009 9:25:39am

re: #14 DistantThunder
Distant Thunder, if structures are hundreds of years old, then that means they have survived for hundreds of years. You work it out. In every Italian earthquake I have ever seen, the bulk of the collapses and the victims has been in modern buildings, and this one does not look to be any kind of an exception.

I did my Army service in the area. I did not come back with any great affection for the people, but certainly with respect for them. They are tough (most of them serve in the elite corps, the Alpini or mountain troops) and entrepreneurial: the road from Rome to L'Aquila is dotted with warehouses, workshops and factories. They will rebuild. The main problem is that the communications network, especially the motorway, is apt to be stopped for a while. The motorway, built as it is through some of the highest mountains in the peninsula, is full of viaducts, bridges and reinforced areas, all of which will have been weakened or knocked out by the earthquake.

But, I repeat, the people of Abruzzo are tough, hard-working, and uncomplaining. They will rebuild, and do a good thing of it.

Zimriel Mon, Apr 6, 2009 9:27:40am

Thanks for the perspective, Fabio.

Also, I should have mentioned that the news blackout threat from Berlusconi is unrelated to the earthquake. I had thought that it was illustrative of a general hear-no-evil attitude among the bigwigs.

It may well be, but as you have mentioned, this is going to have to go before a scientific board.

FabioC. Mon, Apr 6, 2009 10:29:43am

In fact, the scientist who gave the warning was off regarding both time and location. But it's not the time for polemics, now.

Death toll is around 100 now, but some 70 000 people have lost their homes: this is the biggest and most serious problem.

Some villages do not have a single building letf undamaged and have been completely evacuated. At least the first responders responded quickly and properly.

Zimriel Mon, Apr 6, 2009 1:42:47pm

Yeah, serves me right for trusting Reuters.

mefolkes Mon, Apr 6, 2009 4:13:07pm

I got a call from my cousin via Skype. He was in his hotel room in Isernia, about sixty kilometers from the quake epicenter. He was literally shaken out of bed. No buildings collapsed in Isernia, that he could see, but there was a lot of damage. He made a quick circuit around his shabby old hotel to make sure that it was safe to remain in. Aside from the quake, he has enjoyed visiting that area, and highly recommends visiting it. Those folks will find the tourist dollars very useful.

Spy Mode Auto

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