Eleanor Service |
Italy’s PM Matteo Renzi has spoken out, saying that at least 120 people have been killed and 368 injured in the earthquake that hit the mountainous area in central Italy.
At 01:36 GMT, 65 miles north-east of Rome, the magnitude 6.2 quake struck, leaving devastation in its wake. The historic town of Amatrice was the worst affected, with its residents making up 83 of the death toll. The mayor has said that three quarters of the town was destroyed in the quake, but under this rubble, and the rubble in many other areas, survivors are still trapped.
Rescue teams are searching for survivors, using heavy lifting equipment to find them, but are at times having to resort to using their bare hands.
Amongst this devastation though, moments of hope are still present. One such incident occurred in the village of Pescara del Tronto, after an eight year old girl was pulled from the rubble she had been trapped under for 18 hours.
The PM is still wary though, issuing the grave warning that “this will not be the final toll”, speaking on the latest figures as he visited the area. He also paid tribute to the brave volunteers and civil defence officials who had rushed out in the middle of the night, digging with their bare hands to find survivors.
He made the promise that:
“No family, no city, no hamlet will be left behind”.
The tremor shook right across the country, from Naples in the north to Bologna in the south. Dozens of aftershocks have also struck. The small towns and villages in the mountainous area where the regions of Umbria, Lazio and Le Marche meet felt the quake the hardest.
This tragic event has been felt across the world, with many people extending their sympathies and support.
