A powerful earthquake tore through central Italy yesterday, killing at least 50 people as Renaissance buildings in a historic town were reduced to rubble.
More than 1,700 rescuers scrambled to find victims trapped under collapsed homes in L’Aquila, which bore the brunt of the quake, and officials said the death toll would rise.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi declared a state of emergency and canceled a trip to Russia so he could go to the city, the capital of the Abruzzo region, about 100km northeast of Rome.
The quake struck just after 3:30am and lasted about 30 seconds, bringing down many Renaissance era and Baroque buildings, including the dome of the L’Aquila Cathedral.
Roofs caved in on sleeping inhabitants and boulders fell off mountain slopes blocking many roads. At least five children were among the dead in L’Aquila, ANSA news agency quoted police as saying.
The quake measured 6.2 on the Richter Scale, the Italian geophysical institute said. The epicenter was 5km below L’Aquila, which explained the heavy damage that was inflicted up to 30km away in all directions.
Sirens blared across the city as rescue workers with dogs raced to find survivors. Many of the 60,000 residents fled into the streets as more than a dozen aftershocks rattled the buildings.
Some even left L’Aquila by foot with belongings in suitcases.
Rescue workers pulled several people alive out of one four-story building and said they could hear the cries of one woman still trapped. They planned to try to lift the roof with a giant crane.
Doctors treated people in the open air outside L’Aquila’s main hospital as only one operating room was functioning.
L’Aquila suffered the biggest toll. Other dead were reported in the surrounding towns and villages of Castelnuovo, Poggio Picenze, Tormintarte, Fossa, Totani and Villa Sant’Angelo, police said.
Guido Bertolaso, head of Italy’s public safety department, warned the toll would rise.
“It’s an event that will mobilize the nation for many weeks,” he said, adding that at least 10,000 homes or buildings had been damaged in the quake.
Italy is criss-crossed by two fault lines, making it one of Europe’s most quake-vulnerable regions, with some 20 million people at risk. An October 2002 quake killed 30 people including 27 pupils and their teacher who were crushed under their schoolhouse in the tiny medieval village of San Giuliano di Puglia.
The Travel Agent Association of ROC said there were three groups of tourists from Taiwan traveling in Italy, all of which have reported no injuries.
All three groups were traveling near Rome at the time of the earthquake and were about 90km from L’Aquila, the association said.
The three tour groups are: 24 people with Lion Travel, 19 people with Cola Tour and 15 people with Phoenix Tours.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS