We Pause to Pray for Italy, and to Remember All Earthquake Victims

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of the Italian earthquake and to all of Italy, that sunny, happy country that has a special place in every heart. ~~~~~~ The earthquake hit in an area of Umbria less that 100 miles northeast of Rome during the night of Tuesday-Wednesday, literally destroying several villages. Tremors were felt as far away as Rome and Venice. The US Geological Survey says the quake was of a magnitude of 6.2 on the Richter Scale, making it the worst earthquake to hit Italy since the 2009 Aquila 6.3 earthquake that killed 309, injured 2,000 and left 65,000 homeless. Remy Bossu, head of a government emergency service in France, said shallow earthquakes of this magnitude were not highly unusual in the zone hit Wednesday. In addition to the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake, another hit in 1997 in Umbria and Marche that severely damaged the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. He said the main problem in the area are the great numbers of older buildings that cannot withstand earthquakes of this magnitude : "The problem is that the [earthquake-proof] building code only applies to new buildings. To retrofit an old building is a very complex and costly operation. So it's only done for key buildings, such as hospitals." The villages worst hit were near the epicenter, 6 miles deep, at Norcia -- Accumoli, Amatrice, Posta and Arquata del Tronto. Everyone who has been in an Italian restaurant indirectly knows Amatrice, the little village of 2,700 where the classic amatriciana pasta sauce was born. Amatrice is also known in Italy for supplying cooks for the Vatican. The mayor of Accumoli told local media that his village was half destroyed, adding "the town no longer exists." Sabrina Sbermola, a resident of another central Italian town hit by the quake -- Arquata del Tronto -- told the BBC : “This was very, very bad. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Estimates of the dead have rising as search and rescue efforts go on. As of late evening Wednesday, the death toll was at least 150. ~~~~~~ Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said in a national address : “No family or village or town will be left alone,” adding that Italy would vigorously accelerate the ongoing rescue effort : “we will continue to find people alive.” The Washington Post reported that in Amatrice, the village hardest hit by the earthquake -- as rescue workers and local residents desperately clawed through rubble to save buried victims -- "several survivors, including a small girl, were plucked alive from heaps of debris. Hospitals in the impacted areas were fast filling up with injured people. Thousands of residents were left homeless....a dazed Mariana Lleshi, a Catholic nun from Albania, walked toward the destroyed religious institute where she lived along with a group of other nuns and elderly women. Of the 20 women who lived there, she said, seven were still unaccounted for. Lleshi clutched her head, where a large bandage covered the wound she sustained as the ceiling collapsed in her bedroom. 'I remember hearing something, a loud noise, and then hiding under my bed,” she said. 'I was screaming, and I got out and started running when the ceiling started coming down.' She said a young Colombian man who was staying overnight at the institute found her in the chaos and guided her out to safety. 'All I could see was destruction around me. I had lost all hope to get out of this alive, but God sent me his messenger.'” ~~~~~~ The earthquake damage covered a wide area, according to the WP, "with devastation striking the narrow, cobblestone streets of historic towns scattered across a sprawling zone including the earthquake-prone provinces of Marche and Lazio, which sustained some of the heaviest casualties. Images showed heavy rubble from fallen buildings piled high on the narrow streets of old Roman towns. The blocked roads, officials said, were hindering rescuers attempting to reach victims." Aftershocks as strong as 5.5 magnitude continued, as the devastating quake hit Italy during the high August vacation period when Italian temperatures can be as high as 100-110°F and large numbers of Italians leave cities and towns for annual holidays -- the region where the quake struck is a popular tourist area in August. Luca Cari, spokesman for the Italian fire department, told Reuters that rescue workers took to the air in helicopters to assess the damage at dawn. The Amatrice mayor told local media that "dozens" had died in his town. People draped in white blankets stood next to destroyed buildings. Aerial views of before and after pictures showed the magnitude of the destruction in what used to be a picturesque town. The mayor gave alarming assessments, saying debris was so bad that streets needed to be cleared to reach stranded residents : “The streets are not passable, and there are people under the rubble. We are trying by all means to bring first aid, but we are working without light [during the night].” The mayor of another hard-hit town, Accumoli, described extensive damage and casualties : “Four people are under the rubble, but they are not showing any sign of life. Two parents and two children.” The WP quoted authorities calling on residents in Lazio and other affected provinces to avoid congesting roadways to help rescue workers get through faster. They also issued appeals for blood as hospitals dealt with a rush of earthquake injuries. Late on Wednesday, the Italian Army had moved into place heavy eauipment and was organizing the search effort in cooperation with the Italian police and fire services. Their work is often halted by the ongoing serious aftershocks. The residents of Amatrice have been told not to sleep in any building on Wednesday night because of the aftershocks and the unassessed state of the bulidings left standing. Speaking in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City, Pope Francis said: “I cannot but express my great pain and say I am with the people in all the places stricken by this earthquake.” Aid stations were set up to distribute warm drinks and on Wednesday efforts began to set up camps for the homeless. ~~~~~~ Dear readers, a more powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake rocked central Burma on Wednesday, damaging scores of ancient Buddhist pagodas, but it was 52 miles below the surface, the USGS reported, and the destruction was far less severe than in the Italian earthquake. I don't report on every deadly earthquake, principally because they often occur in inaccessible areas of central Asia where news reports appear slowly and the news of casualties lags. Reporting on the Italian earthquake gives us all a better understanding of how traumatizing and destructive any serious earthquake is. When we can, we should contribute to relief groups or give blood. And, always, we think of and pray for the communities in every part of the world where earthquakes cause such devastation and suffering.