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IAC Prime Member
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Vincenzo Pandolfi
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4/6/2009 8:59:28 AM
---- Updated 4/8/2009 1:36:28 PM
My hometown L'Aquila destroyed by earthquake
L'Aquila, where I was born and lived until 10 years of age, has been hit by a horrific earthquake. Live news here:
http://www.rai.it/dl/portale/homeNews.html
Most of my Italian family lives in L'Aquila. Apparently they are OK, but have no home at the moment. Nobody knows how badly affected their apartment block is. You can see pictures of the city damage at the Rai site above...
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4/6/2009 9:27:39 AM
So sorry to hear this. Hope you are able to locate all your family and they kept clear of the worst of it.
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The CODE
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4/6/2009 10:51:58 AM
Just heard the news about this Vincenzo!
Very sorry to hear you have connections to the area,
and glad they seem OK! Good Luck!
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Village Jammers
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4/6/2009 12:53:46 PM
Vincenzo, I'm glad to know your family is OK and you are in touch with them. My thoughts are with you all.
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My-T-Hi
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4/6/2009 12:58:47 PM
Good to hear your family are OK.
I was in Osaka when the big Kobe earthquake hit (about 5,000 people died). Our place shook like crazy but luckily no major damage where we were... but very scary.
Kobe got re-built quite quickly after.. I hope that happens for you home town too.
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Steve Ison
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4/6/2009 1:06:24 PM
---- Updated 4/6/2009 1:06:40 PM
It looks awful Vincenzo..A massive relief that your family are all ok...
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Hop On Pop
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4/6/2009 1:25:22 PM
So glad to hear that your family is okay.
And so sorry to hear of the devastation. Thoughts and prayers to all of those who are suffering and who have family members or other loved ones that were not as lucky as your family was.
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Vincenzo Pandolfi
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4/6/2009 3:19:21 PM
Thanks for your support everyone...
Just spoke to my sister. They are fine, but the house is gone. They have set up some sort of camp for the survivors. A lot of historic buildings have been lost or badly damaged....So far 100 dead, 1500 injured.
Vincenzo
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4/6/2009 3:22:42 PM
Bad news alright.., sorry to hear of what happened to your city..
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Kevin White
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4/6/2009 3:29:15 PM
The amount of damage was incredible, V. I hope your family finds quick refuge ... but the main thing is that they're alive. They'll recover from the rest.
Kev-
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LyinDan
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4/6/2009 4:00:14 PM
OMG, this is terrible. Glad to hear that yours are OK, if homeless.
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Grandpa Rock
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4/6/2009 4:05:58 PM
I am so sorry to hear this, You and your relations have my best wishes! TC, Grandpa Rock
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Hugh Hamilton
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4/6/2009 5:54:37 PM
Words seem so feeble at times like this, Vincenzo. Sincere best wishes to you, your kin, and all the other residents of L'Aquila.
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The Man With No Band
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4/6/2009 6:47:14 PM
Bummer just don't cut it here Vincenzo ... So I extend my thoughts to those effected, both in the area and abroad ...
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never never band
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4/6/2009 6:52:03 PM
Vincenzo, man I've been following this story all morning.
I'm glad your family are not hurt, but so sorry for your loss, their loss and the the loss of this incredible village.
what a horror.
:-(
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satch
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4/6/2009 8:04:58 PM
So sad... but out of sadness comes hope and a new life...
Our thoughts have been with the people of L'Aquila.
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Chris Hance
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4/6/2009 8:11:00 PM
Oh dear, I dunno what to say, the first report I heard said "four casualties", and I'm so sorry about it all so massive,
Maybe there will be some local aid appeals here I hope.
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DirgeK
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4/6/2009 8:23:53 PM
Our thoughts are with you and your family and all those affected by the disaster.
DK's mum and Dad
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Neil w Young
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4/6/2009 8:37:55 PM
So sorry to learn of the destruction in your village and elsewhere in Italy Vincenzo, and of the losses suffered by your family members - thankfully they are safe. Where there is life and hope, there also is a future. The past will remain in hearts and memories.
Thinking of you and yours.
Neil
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Beth Fridinger
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4/6/2009 10:15:38 PM
Oh Vincenzo this is awful news, but I am glad your family is alive and healthy.
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SILVERWOODSTUDIO
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4/6/2009 10:25:05 PM
---just saw the devastation on the morning news--
all our hopes go out for your family and friends back in Italy---
life hangs by a mere thread--
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Beth Fridinger
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4/6/2009 10:39:46 PM
Here is a video that shows the beautiful buildings....collapsed....and some rescues
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/apr/06/earthquake-italy-video
I have some cousins and family in Latina so hopefully they weren't affected by this. Apparently around 130 people were killed.
here is some news in English
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/06/italy-earthquake-victims
Italy earthquake leaves 130 dead and scores more trapped under rubble
• Rescue effort hampered by debris blocking roads
• Up to 15,000 buildings destroyed by quake
* John Hooper in L'Aquila, Tom Kington in Rome and Esther Addley
* guardian.co.uk, Monday 6 April 2009 21.05 BST
* Article history
Italian rescue workers carry body from rubble after an earthquake in the Italian village of Onna
Italian rescue workers carry a body. Photograph: Chris Helgren/Reuters
Rescue workers in central Italy were working last night to free hundreds of people feared trapped under rubble, after the deadliest earthquake to strike the country in three decades caused widespread destruction across the mountainous region of Abruzzo.
Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, declared a state of emergency and cancelled a trip to Russia to travel to the epicentre of Monday morning's quake, close to the medieval city of L'Aquila, 60 miles north-east of Rome. He said that in some cases rescuers were digging with their bare hands.
Having climbed steadily all day yesterday, the official total last night stood at more than 130 dead and more than 1,500 injured, but Berlusconi said he feared that total would rise. Unconfirmed reports quoting hospital sources last night put the total at up to 150 dead.
Between 10,000 and 15,000 buildings had collapsed in the quake, an official at the local civil protection agency said, and at least 50,000 people are homeless.
Gianfranco Fini, speaker of the lower house of parliament, said some small towns had been "virtually destroyed in their entirety". Early rescue efforts were hampered by rubble strewn across roads and the collapse of several bridges.
"We will work for the next 48 hours without any stop, because we have to save lives," Francesco Rocca, the head of Italy's Red Cross, told BBC television. "We estimate that hundreds of people could still be alive under the buildings."
The quake, measured at 6.3 on the Richter scale by the US Geological Survey, struck at 3.32am local time and lasted for "20 interminable seconds", said the mayor of L'Aquila, Massimo Cialente, who described its effects as "terrible, really terrible".
Streets in the city were carpeted with thick dust yesterday, as helicopters hovered overhead and sirens screamed. Part of a university residence and a hotel were destroyed, and the quake brought down the bell tower of a church in the centre of the city. One local man, standing next to a head-high pile of rubble, said: "This building was four storeys high."
Scores of people lined up with suitcases on the roads leading out of the city, waiting to be evacuated from the area. Others, dazed, huddled in blankets close to the ruins of their homes, or assisted the well-organised rescue effort in a desperate hunt for missing relatives. Frequent aftershocks struck the town throughout the day, provoking cries of alarm.
"I woke up hearing what sounded like a bomb," said L'Aquila resident Angela Palumbo, 87. "We managed to escape with things falling all around us. Everything was shaking, furniture falling. I don't remember ever seeing anything like this in my life."
"Our house was destroyed but we got out," said Marion Cadman, a teacher at the English school of L'Aquila. "Now we're in limbo and just glad to have a tent.
"There was a first tremor around a quarter to 11 and we considered going out, but we didn't as we had become so used to them. Then the top floor fell down on the lower one and the corridor was smashed. Our 18-year-old daughter got under the bed as she had been trained to do and we got out before the next big one. We will spend the night in someone's garden. I don't think I will be sleeping between four walls for some time."
Graziella Fantasia, also a teacher in the city, said her family had lost two houses, one in the suburbs of L'Aquila and one in a nearby village. "We have no homes. Now we are waiting because the earth is still moving. We will spend the night in the village where it is better, but it's not safe to stay in houses. A lot of people are in tents. Wherever there is open space there are people and lots of tents."
Dozens of remote villages in the area were also affected, with at least 10 reported killed in the village of Onna. "Almost all the old village is destroyed, 99% of it," a man in Tempera, a few miles to the east of L'Aquila, told the Guardian. "We have already found 10 bodies."
Berlusconi said that 4,000 hotel rooms had been requisitioned along the Adriatic coast and that 20,000 beds in tents were being provided, while stadiums were also being prepared. No one would be allowed to stay in damaged buildings because of the risk of further quakes, he said. Field hospitals were set up after part of L'Aquila's hospital was deemed unsafe and had to be evacuated. More than 5,000 emergency workers were involved in the rescue effort, the prime minister said, adding: "I want to say something important: no one will be abandoned to their fate."
The EU offered immediate assistance, as did Russia and Israel, but an Italian government spokesman said the situation was under control at present. The foreign secretary, David Miliband, said Britain stood "ready to do what we can".
Berlusconi said he would finalise his funding plans last night, but indicated that he planned to seek assistance from an EU fund for disaster relief.
A number of British aid agencies said they had received no requests for aid, but were monitoring the situation and were ready to respond. Pete Garratt, relief operations manager with the British Red Cross, said its Italian counterpart had "significant resources in emergency response".
The earthquake is the worst to hit Italy since 1980, when 2,735 died in a quake measuring 6.5 that struck close to Salerno in southern Italy, and caused widespread damage in nearby Naples. That disaster prompted the introduction of new regulations designed to strengthen constructions in the event of an earthquake. Many of the buildings destroyed in yesterday's tremor appeared to have been earlier, dating from the 1960s and 1970s or, in remote villages, to be medieval structures.
There were questions yesterday about how so many buildings could have been destroyed. Gian Michele Calvi, an earthquake expert at the University of Pavia, said that Italy was in the habit of forgetting lessons. "This country is reminded of the risk of earthquakes only when it finds itself under the rubble," he told Corriere della Sera. "The fact that two of three operating rooms at L'Aquila hospital are no longer usable is something not worthy of a civilised country."
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Beth Fridinger
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4/6/2009 10:42:26 PM
Most disturbing is an Italian Scientist predicted this and warned people and he was silenced by the authorities:
An Italian scientist who predicted a major earthquake near L'Aquila a few weeks ago was forced to remove warnings from the internet after being reported to the police, it emerged today.
Giampaolo Giuliani, a researcher at the National Physical Laboratory of Gran Sasso, based his forecast on emissions of radon gas coming from the ground in seismically active areas.
The first tremors in the region were felt in mid-January and continued at regular intervals, leading to concerns that a large earthquake was imminent in the medieval city.
Vans with loudspeakers had driven around the town a month ago telling locals to evacuate their houses after Giuliani predicted the quake was about to strike.
The scientists' warnings drew criticism from the city's mayor, and following complaints to the police, Giuliani was forced to take down warnings he had posted on the internet.
Italy's major risks committee met on 31 March to reassure the city's population that the seismic activity was nothing to be alarmed about. "The tremors being felt by the population are part of a typical sequence [which is] absolutely normal in a seismic area like the one around L'Aquila," the civil protection agency said in a statement that evening.
The statement added that it was impossible to predict an earthquake, but was nonetheless monitoring the situation.
Giuliani's predictions were dismissed by Enzo Boschi, the head of Italy's National Geophysics Institute.
"Every time there is an earthquake there are people who claim to have predicted it," he said. "As far as I know nobody predicted this earthquake with precision. It is not possible to predict earthquakes."
He said the real problem for Italy was a long-standing failure to take proper precautions despite a history of tragic quakes. "We have earthquakes, but then we forget and do nothing. It's not in our culture to take precautions or build in an appropriate way in areas where there could be strong earthquakes," he added.
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Sly Witt
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4/7/2009 3:33:40 AM
I'm so glad that your family is OK, but sad that they've lost their home. My thoughts and prayer to you and yours.
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Jeff Allen Myers
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4/7/2009 4:26:42 AM
Vincenzo,
I am so sorry, but I am glad to hear your family is safe. I live in "Earthquake" territory here in California and have felt several large Tremors...It really makes you feel insignificant. Thirty seconds can feel like an hour.
I am sorry for the loss of precious life, the buildings can be rebuilt...
I hope the area gets all the help it needs...
Regards,
Jeff
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Vincenzo Pandolfi
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4/7/2009 1:51:47 PM
Father Time, The Code, Village Jaammers,My-T-Hi,Steve, Hop on Pop, Sterling, Kevin White, Granpa, Hugh, Sam, Never never, Satch, Data Thieves, Dk's Mum & Dad, Neil W, Beth, Laree, SilverwoodStudio, Slywitt and Jeff, Thank you so much for your support, it means a lot to me.
My family have been put up in temporary accomodation in the town of Pescara, not too far from L'Aquila, so at least they have a bed to sleep on.
This is such a tragedy. L'Aquila is the town where the movie Lady Hawk was filmed, and contained incredible treasures from medieval and Roman times and it was one of the most picturesque cities in Italy.
Thank you all,
Vincenzo
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Hop On Pop
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4/7/2009 2:00:39 PM
Bella Italia.
My favorite places in the world are on your peninsula. I think of you and your family every time the news comes on, Vincenzo.
God bless and watch over your family and everyone else displaced.
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Gary Stockton
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4/7/2009 11:53:19 PM
Vincenzo,
I'm so sorry to hear about the tragedy in Italy in your home town. I hope your family will be ok. How terrifying for them.
Lady Hawk was a wonderful film, one of my favorites, I had no idea that's where it was filmed.
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HunkaFunk
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4/8/2009 12:21:41 AM
We pray for all those caught by this disaster. Siesmic activity is increasing in diverse places all over the earth. It's just crazy how all those buildings built centuries ago, haved collapsed into rubble. The courageous Italians have acted swiftly, providing shelter for the homeless. The U.S. government could take some lessons from the disaster responce.
Love and infinite Peace,
Tim and Michele Franklin
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John Pippus
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4/8/2009 12:45:19 AM
Hello Vince,
I'm glad your family is safe, that must be such a relief. I'm sorry about your sister's house and for the rest of the residents. It's great to see the amount of support and good wishes you are getting from the IAC community.
You're in my thoughts.
John
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Lars Mars
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4/8/2009 1:36:27 AM
We're glad to hear that your family was spared the worst of it Vincenzo. It's such a total tragedy. No matter what we've experienced in life, nothing can prepare us for something of this magnitude.
As Jeff said, an earthquake can make you feel completely insignificant. And even if they could restore the ancient buildings, a city without its people is nothing more than a museum.
There's a link to donate to the Italian Red Cross for relief at the American Red Cross site.
Our hearts go out to all of them.
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