Quake in Central Italy, villages razed, 278 dead

[Risottia]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37171953

A rather nasty earthquake has struck Central Italy tonight (around 3.30 CEST). The epicentre of the quake - rated at magnitude 6.0 by the INGV, about as strong as L'Aquila quake of 2009 - was in the town of Accumoli (province of Rieti). The most affected areas include the whole province of Rieti and Ascoli Piceno. The main shock struck around 3.36 CEST, followed by aftershocks in the range of magnitude between 4 and 5. The shocks were felt clearly in the whole Central Italy, even in Bologna, Rimini and Naples.

21 people already reported dead (at 9.21 CEST). Many people still trapped under the rubble. The quake also triggered a landslide on the Gran Sasso. The mayor of Amatrice says tens of dead likely.

If you or someone you know are in the area, this is what you should do:
1.STAY OUTSIDE any building until the Pompieri (firefighters) or the Protezione Civile declare it's safe, always follow their instructions
2.DO NOT GO AROUND and keep roads clear for the emergency services; same with telephone lines, do not clutter them with unnecessary calls
3.DO NOT TRY TO RESCUE TRAPPED PEOPLE ALL BY YOURSELF - if you're not trained you risk endangering yourself and others, call the Pompieri (tel. 112 or 115) or the Protezione Civile (tel. 840840 or 803555)
4.IF YOU'RE IN A SAFE AREA NEARBY, BLOOD IS NEEDED, refer to the nearest hospital.

Also: official donation hotline has been set up (+39) 45500 : you can donate 2€ by calling it or by texting it (don't know if it works from abroad though).
Donations from abroad can be made through these websites: http://www.cri.it and http://www.poste.it (Italian Red Cross and Italian Post respectively).
The Protezione Civile says food and clothing aren't needed, blood and money are.

Edit: official reports say 73 people dead (18.45 CEST)
Edit: official report now says 120 dead, 300+ injured, numbers expected to rise (19.30 CEST)
Edit: Rai1 reports 158 dead, numbers still expected to rise (22.58 CEST)
Edit: Protezione Civile says 159 dead, 350 injured (25/8 00.30 CEST)
Edit: RaiNews says 250 dead, 365 injured, still searching (25/8 19.30 CEST)
Edit: RaiNews says 268 dead, 387 injured, major aftershocks still happening (26/8 9.00 CEST)
Edit: Protezione Civile says 278 dead, no more missing people in the Marche region, still missing people in the Lazio and Abruzzo regions (26/8 17.30 CEST)

[The East Marches]

Are the Italian authorities good at responding to this kind of thing? Is there some form financial assistance available to help the villagers rebuild post-earth quake?

This is bad. Not much else to be said.

[Stadenwick]

The Muslim did this.

jk, hope things doesnt turn too badly for the residents

[Benuty]

The Muslim did this.

jk, hope things doesnt turn too badly for the residents

Now thats what I would call edgy if you didn't put the jk in there.

[Risottia]

Are the Italian authorities good at responding to this kind of thing?

Quite good. Sadly we've got a lot of training from similar emergencies.

Is there some form financial assistance available to help the villagers rebuild post-earth quake?

Likely there will be, but right now it's too early. Wait for official initiatives.

[Bufett and Colbert]

I hope everyone stays as safe as possible. Meanwhile, I'm supposed to fly into Napoli tomorrow so I hope those plates settle down...

[Taviana SSR]

This tragedy is a symptom of capitalism's failure - Most of the victims are rural poor and the poor who lived in precarious housing.

The government of Italy and geologists across the world knew in advance that a disaster of this scale was waiting to happen, given the understanding about the movement of seismic plates in the area. And yet the imperialist Italian government and the EU made no effort whatsoever to prepare and take precautions to prevent large-scale death and disaster in the event of a major earthquake. The scale of the disaster is therefore man-made, in the sense that it could have been dramatically lessened if adequate preventive measures were put in place. They rather spend billions on bombing Libya and Syria rather than build houses that will withstrand seismic activity.

[USS Monitor]

I wish them luck with the rescue efforts and hope the death toll isn't too high... Not sure what else to say other than it sucks that this happened. I like Italy and don't want it to get trashed by earthquakes.

[Stadenwick]

This tragedy is a symptom of capitalism's failure - Most of the victims are rural poor and the poor who lived in precarious housing.

The government of Italy and geologists across the world knew in advance that a disaster of this scale was waiting to happen, given the understanding about the movement of seismic plates in the area. And yet the imperialist Italian government and the EU made no effort whatsoever to prepare and take precautions to prevent large-scale death and disaster in the event of a major earthquake. The scale of the disaster is therefore man-made, in the sense that it could have been dramatically lessened if adequate preventive measures were put in place. They rather spend billions on bombing Libya and Syria rather than build houses that will withstrand seismic activity.

There's no jk, can we consider this edgy?

[The East Marches]

Are the Italian authorities good at responding to this kind of thing?

Quite good. Sadly we've got a lot of training from similar emergencies.

Is there some form financial assistance available to help the villagers rebuild post-earth quake?

Likely there will be, but right now it's too early. Wait for official initiatives.

That is very good to hear. Thank you for the information.

[Gigaverse]

This tragedy is a symptom of capitalism's failure - Most of the victims are rural poor and the poor who lived in precarious housing.

The government of Italy and geologists across the world knew in advance that a disaster of this scale was waiting to happen, given the understanding about the movement of seismic plates in the area. And yet the imperialist Italian government and the EU made no effort whatsoever to prepare and take precautions to prevent large-scale death and disaster in the event of a major earthquake. The scale of the disaster is therefore man-made, in the sense that it could have been dramatically lessened if adequate preventive measures were put in place. They rather spend billions on bombing Libya and Syria rather than build houses that will withstrand seismic activity.

People died and the first thing you did is to use this crisis for your propaganda campaign?

[Gigaverse]

Just hoping that the casualties won't go through the roof.

[Minzerland]

This tragedy is a symptom of capitalism's failure - Most of the victims are rural poor and the poor who lived in precarious housing.

The government of Italy and geologists across the world knew in advance that a disaster of this scale was waiting to happen, given the understanding about the movement of seismic plates in the area. And yet the imperialist Italian government and the EU made no effort whatsoever to prepare and take precautions to prevent large-scale death and disaster in the event of a major earthquake. The scale of the disaster is therefore man-made, in the sense that it could have been dramatically lessened if adequate preventive measures were put in place. They rather spend billions on bombing Libya and Syria rather than build houses that will withstrand seismic activity.

ha...ha

[Risottia]

I hope everyone stays as safe as possible. Meanwhile, I'm supposed to fly into Napoli tomorrow so I hope those plates settle down...

Naples is safe, tectonically speaking, and it's far enough from the affected areas, so you shouldn't have problems there. There's the (rather remote) possibility that you could feel some tremors there if there are some strong aftershocks, but nothing to worry in Naples from this quake.

[Risottia]

This tragedy is a symptom of capitalism's failure - Most of the victims are rural poor and the poor who lived in precarious housing.

The government of Italy and geologists across the world knew in advance that a disaster of this scale was waiting to happen, given the understanding about the movement of seismic plates in the area. And yet the imperialist Italian government and the EU made no effort whatsoever to prepare and take precautions to prevent large-scale death and disaster in the event of a major earthquake. The scale of the disaster is therefore man-made, in the sense that it could have been dramatically lessened if adequate preventive measures were put in place. They rather spend billions on bombing Libya and Syria rather than build houses that will withstrand seismic activity.

There's no jk, can we consider this edgy?

More like shitposting. Especially since the houses that collapsed weren't precarious - in most cases we're talking century-old stone and brick houses, so, rather solid stuff - and lots of homes have been double-and-triple checked after the nearby 2009 quake.

Just hoping that the casualties won't go through the roof.

More like the roof went through the casualties. Yeah, black humour.

[Minzerland]

I hope everyone stays as safe as possible. Meanwhile, I'm supposed to fly into Napoli tomorrow so I hope those plates settle down...

Naples is safe, tectonically speaking, and it's far enough from the affected areas, so you shouldn't have problems there. There's the (rather remote) possibility that you could feel some tremors there if there are some strong aftershocks, but nothing to worry in Naples from this quake.

How about Northern Italy (Milan, Venice etc.) and Southern Switzerland (Ticino etc.)? Do you believe they're safe from the aftershocks?

[Felrik]

There's no jk, can we consider this edgy?

More like shitposting. Especially since the houses that collapsed weren't precarious - in most cases we're talking century-old stone and brick houses, so, rather solid stuff - and lots of homes have been double-and-triple checked after the nearby 2009 quake.

Just hoping that the casualties won't go through the roof.

More like the roof went through the casualties. Yeah, black humour.

[Risottia]

Naples is safe, tectonically speaking, and it's far enough from the affected areas, so you shouldn't have problems there. There's the (rather remote) possibility that you could feel some tremors there if there are some strong aftershocks, but nothing to worry in Naples from this quake.

How about Northern Italy (Milan, Venice etc.) and Southern Switzerland (Ticino etc.)? Do you believe they're safe from the aftershocks?

Totally safe, no aftershocks are going to be felt.
I live in Milan and didn't even feel a tremor, learned about the quake about one hour ago when I turned on the radio.

[Minzerland]

How about Northern Italy (Milan, Venice etc.) and Southern Switzerland (Ticino etc.)? Do you believe they're safe from the aftershocks?

Totally safe, no aftershocks are going to be felt.
I live in Milan and didn't even feel a tremor, learned about the quake about one hour ago when I turned on the radio.

Phew. That is relieving.

[Bhikkustan]

There's no jk, can we consider this edgy?

More like shitposting. Especially since the houses that collapsed weren't precarious - in most cases we're talking century-old stone and brick houses, so, rather solid stuff - and lots of homes have been double-and-triple checked after the nearby 2009 quake.

Just hoping that the casualties won't go through the roof.

More like the roof went through the casualties. Yeah, black humour.

Brisk and stone is the worst thing possible in an earthquake. Also, a six should not be that bad, they are a common occurrence here in NZ.

[Felrik]

More like shitposting. Especially since the houses that collapsed weren't precarious - in most cases we're talking century-old stone and brick houses, so, rather solid stuff - and lots of homes have been double-and-triple checked after the nearby 2009 quake.


More like the roof went through the casualties. Yeah, black humour.

Brisk and stone is the worst thing possible in an earthquake. Also, a six should not be that bad, they are a common occurrence here in NZ.

How the sheep, Kiwi.

[Bhikkustan]

Brisk and stone is the worst thing possible in an earthquake. Also, a six should not be that bad, they are a common occurrence here in NZ.

How the sheep, Kiwi.

Tasty, had lamb chops for dinner. Now stop changing the topic.

[Felrik]

How the sheep, Kiwi.

Tasty, had lamb chops for dinner. Now stop changing the topic.

Heehehe, sorry saw a chance to insult our friends in NZ and couldn't resist.

[Bufett and Colbert]

I hope everyone stays as safe as possible. Meanwhile, I'm supposed to fly into Napoli tomorrow so I hope those plates settle down...

Naples is safe, tectonically speaking, and it's far enough from the affected areas, so you shouldn't have problems there. There's the (rather remote) possibility that you could feel some tremors there if there are some strong aftershocks, but nothing to worry in Naples from this quake.

Good to hear.

[Risottia]

Brisk and stone is the worst thing possible in an earthquake.

If it fails. It's a sharp threshold: extremely rigid (so safer in minor shocks), but will fail completely in a major shock.

Also, a six should not be that bad, they are a common occurrence here in NZ.

That's because the population density of NZ (17 people/km²) allows for low building, and it has had a short history of building - which means most buildings are young. Welcome to a land with 201 people/km² average, with stone and brick building since some 2500 years at least, and whose territory is 76.8% steep hills and mountains. High density here is a necessity since the age of the Roman Republic.