Death toll mounts from Italian quake

A powerful earthquake ripped through central Italy today killing more than 90 people as they slept.

It struck in the middle of night flattening whole blocks of buildings, injuring hundreds and making tens of thousands homeless.

Ambulances screamed through the medieval city of L’Aquila as firefighters with search dogs worked feverishly to reach people trapped in fallen buildings, including a dormitory where half a dozen university students were believed still inside.

In the historic centre of the city, a wall of the 13th century Santa Maria di Collemaggio church collapsed and the bell tower of the Renaissance San Bernadino church also fell. The 16th century castle housing the Abruzzo National Museum was damaged.

L’Aquila, capital of the Abruzzo region, was near the epicentre about 70 miles from of Rome. It is a quake-prone region that has had at least nine smaller jolts since the beginning of April. The 6.3 magnitude quake struck at 3.32am local time and was followed by more than a dozen aftershocks.

As rescue crews clawed through the debris of fallen homes the death toll was certain to rise, civil protection chief Guido Bertolaso said.

The quake hit 26 towns and cities around L’Aquila, which lies in a valley surrounded by the Apennine mountains. Castelnuovo, a hamlet of about 300 people 15 miles away appeared hard hit, and five were confirmed dead there. Another small town, Onno, was almost completely levelled.

“A few houses have remained standing, but just a few,” Stefania Pezzopane, provincial president of L’Aquila, said.

L’Aquila Mayor Massimo Cialente said about 100,000 people were homeless. Around 10,000 to 15,000 buildings were either damaged or destroyed.

Premier Silvio Berlusconi declared a state of emergency, freeing up federal funds to deal with the disaster, and cancelled a visit to Russia so he could deal with the quake crisis.

Condolences poured in from around the world, including from President Barack Obama, Pope Benedict XVI and Abdullah Gul, president of quake-prone Turkey.

Slabs of walls, twisted steel supports, furniture and wire fences were strewn about the streets of L’Aquila, and dust carpeted sidewalks, cars and residents.

Parts of the city’s main hospital were evacuated because they were at risk of collapse, and only two operating rooms were in use. Victims waited in hospital hallways or in the courtyard and many were being treated in the open. A field hospital was set up.

In the streets, as aftershocks rumbled through, residents hugged one another, prayed quietly or frantically tried to call relatives. Residents pushed carts full of clothes and blankets that they had thrown together before fleeing their homes.

“We left as soon as we felt the first tremors,” said Antonio D’Ostilio, 22, as he stood on a street in L’Aquila with a suitcase piled with clothes. “We woke up all of a sudden and we immediately ran downstairs in our pyjamas.”

Evacuees converged on a sports field on the outskirts of L’Aquila where a makeshift tent camp was being set up. Civil protection officials distributed bread and water to people who lay on the grass next to heaps of their belongings.

“It’s a catastrophe and an immense shock,” said resident Renato Di Stefano, who was moving with his family to the camp as a precaution. “It’s struck in the heart of the city, we will never forget the pain.”

Civil protection official Agostino Miozzo said the aim was to give everyone shelter by nightfall.

“This means that the we’ll have several thousand people to assist over the next few weeks and months,” he said.

The last major quake to hit central Italy was a 5.4-magnitude shock that struck the south-central Molise region on October 31, 2002, killing 28 people, including 27 children who died when their school collapsed.