Questions mount as Italy quake toll hits 250
AMATRICE: The death toll from a powerful earthquake in central Italy rose to 250 on Thursday as rescuers continued a grim search for corpses and powerful aftershocks rocked the devastated area.
The bulk of the confirmed deaths —193 at the latest count — were in the small town of Amatrice, where Rita Rosine, 63, wept as she mourned her 75-year-old sister, who was buried under the ruins of her house.
“The situation is worse than in war. It’s awful, awful... they say it will take two days to dig her out because they have to shore up the surrounding buildings,” she said. “She didn’t deserve to die like that, she was so good.”
As hopes of finding any more survivors in the rubble faded, questions mounted as to why there had been so many deaths in a sparsely-populated area so soon after a 2009 earthquake in the nearby city of L’Aquila left 300 people dead.
That disaster, just 50 kilometres south, underscored the region’s vulnerability to seismic events — but preparations for a fresh quake have been exposed as limited at best.
Giuseppe Saieva, the chief public prosecutor for most of the area affected, said he would be opening an investigation into whether anyone could be held responsible for the disaster.
In Amatrice, a 4.3 magnitude aftershock shook the already badly damaged village on Thursday, fueling fears of fresh collapses which could hamper the rescue operation.