Besides having a nice ring to it, the title of this blog, Earthquake in Italy also sounds like a good name for a movie. Ok, now on to seriousness. "A 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck central Italy early Monday, six hours after another quake hit the northern part of the country, the U.S. Geological Survey said. A spokesman with the Italian civil protection agency said had received reports of collapsed buildings, and officials believe there were possible casualties. The quake struck at 3:32 a.m. (9:32 p.m. ET Sunday) about 95 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Rome and about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) deep."The most affected area hit was L'Aquila where several buildings have been destroyed and it is suspected that there may be at least two casualties. A university and a church tower were damaged. L'Aquila is in central Italy about 90 miles northeast of Rome. It is a medieval town with many old buildings and historical buildings. The citizens of L'Aquila are fleeing to safety to try and escape any possible aftershocks or further quakes.The earthquake was even felt in Rome where many pepole were awakened to shaking. "An aftershock with a magnitude of 4.8" was reported about an hour later by the US agency, and, "two smaller earthquakes struck the same region of Italy on Sunday but caused no damage.Strong Earthquakes are pretty rare in central Italy, but the ones that have been known to happen have been devastating. In 1997 an earthquake killed 13 people. In 1980, a 6.8 earthquake killed 3,196 people, and in 1908, a very powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake triggered the fourth largest tsunami in recorded history, resulting in the deaths of nearly 200,000 people or more. These are only to name a few of the Italian earthquakes in the last century.Not much has been eleased or determined yet for this is a very recent dilemma, but there does not seem to been any overwhelming damage. I do hope though taht those who are injured and homeless are saved and cared for, and that those who have died find peace.
Comments