EARTQUAKE 2009 ABRUZZO
09.04.2009
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h. 18:49
MASS FUNERAL TO BE BROADCAST LIVE
(ANSA) - Rome, April 8 - State funerals for the victims of the L'Aquila earthquake will be broadcast live on television Friday. The ceremony, which will be held by the city's archbishop, Giuseppe Molinari, will be shown by state broadcaster RAI's first channel, RAI Uno, as well as on Retequattro of Premier Silvio Berlusconi's private TV network Mediaset. The first private funerals meanwhile began Wednesday for 87 victims who were not from L'Aquila and whose bodies have been returned to their families. Thousands of mourners turned up at a funeral service in the Molise region for 25-year-old Danilo Ciolli, who died in the rubble of L'Aquila's student housing, while the town of Loreto in Abruzzo joined in the ceremony for 24-year-old student and footballer Giuseppe Chiavaroli. There had been unconfirmed rumours that the pope would celebrate the solemn funeral mass for the L'Aquila quake victims on Friday, which is also Good Friday, but these were scotched by Vatican Spokesman Federico Lombardi. A Vatican delegation will nevertheless attend the ceremony.

h. 18:29
L'AQUILA A 'GHOST TOWN', PREMIER SAYS
(ANSA) - L'Aquila, April 8 - Quake-stricken L'Aquila has become a ''ghost town'', Premier Silvio Berlusconi said on Wednesday after surveying the rubble left by Monday's devastating earthquake. ''Unfortunately, it's become a ghost city,'' said the premier of the city, which was founded by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in 1254. ''The problem is seeing how and where to accommodate those who've been left homeless. They certainly can't return here''. Welfare Minister Maurizio Sacconi said in a radio interview on Wednesday that the government would compensate people who have lost their homes ''They'll get compensation and they'll have the chance to choose new houses which will be built in different locations, on the basis of an idea that Premier Silvio Berlusconi has about creating a ''second contemporary city''. The premier's idea of creating a ''new'' L'Aquila to flank the original has been contested by some residents, politicians and architects. Berlusconi told reporters on Wednesday the ''new town'' - or what some have dubbed 'L'Aquila 2'' - would provide the certainty that everyone and ''especially young people'' will have a home. The premier said ''it isn't a matter of setting up an alternative (to L'Aquila) but building more houses, at lower costs and with up-to-date services which make cities more beautiful,'' referring to expensive and lengthy renovations of old buildings.

h. 17:23
SLEEPLESS PREMIER BACK IN STRICKEN AREAS
(ANSA) - L'Aquila, April 8 - Premier Silvio Berlusconi told reporters on Wednesday he had not slept a wink in 44 hours to deal with the emergency in the quake-stricken region of Abruzzo. ''I've beaten a personal endurance record: 44 hours without sleep,'' said the 72-year-old premier, who added: ''not bad for a a 35-year-old''. Berlusconi, who is on his third visit to the stricken area, said he was ready to return every day if necessary. He dismissed suggestions of insensitivity by a foreign journalist who took issue with his quip that the homeless living in tents should see it as a sort of camping trip. He said the government had brought in clown therapists to help children deal with the devasting quake and ongoing aftershocks. ''This was needed to dispel an atmosphere of pessimism, negativity and death when an event like this forces people to stay in the areas,'' he said, reiterating an invitation to families to accept state-funded accomodations in hotels. Berlusconi said 17,000 hotel rooms were available for survivors. ''Sometimes, even during a tragedy like this you've got to smile because you can't get results without optimism''. He said it would take from ''a month-and-a-half to two months to estimate the full scale of damage caused by the quake which on Monday rocked the central city of L'Aquila and surroundings, killing at least 260 people. He said a staff of 1,000 technicians would begin evaluating the damage to public buildings and homes on Thursday. ''(Aerial) photos of the entire area are already available and technicians are already working on this data,'' said the premier, stressing that ''the main priority will be returning the still-liveable houses to their owners and then opening up public buildings like schools''. Berlusconi praised rescue workers, saying he was ''touched'' by the courage of firemen and troops ''who really placed their lives at risk to pull people out of the rubble''. ''We're not short of courageous Italians,'' he said, adding that ''Italy has responded to the emergency''.

h. 16:47
TWO LOOTERS NABBED BY POLICE IN ONNA
(ANSA) - L'Aquila, April 8 - Two looters who stole 80,000 euros worth of good from homes in the quake-stricken town of Onna were nabbed by police on Wednesday. The two unidentified looters were Italians, police sources said. Earlier on Wednesday, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said the government had brought in additional police to deal with looting, in a bid to reassure people who have been forced to abandon their homes. ''These people have already lost everything and we can't saddle them with the additional burden of worrying about someone breaking into their homes to take away what little is left there,'' said Maroni. Premier Silvio Berlusconi said on Wednesday the government will introduce a new anti-looting law which will stiffen penalties for anyone caught stealing in quake-stricken areas. Speaking to reporters in L'Aquila, the premier said Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa had agreed to send in troops to help police on anti-looting patrols.

h. 16:12
UP TO TWO MONTHS TO ESTIMATE FULL SCALE OF DAMAGE
(ANSA) - L'Aquila, April 8 - It will take up to two months to estimate the full scale of damage caused by the quake which rocked the central city of L'Aquila and surroundings, Premier Silvio Berlusconi said on Wednesday. Speaking to reporters after touring the quake-stricken areas, Berlusconi said that ''it will take a month-and-a-half to two months to come up with a definitive estimate of the damages''. The premier, who is on his third visit to the area, said he was ready to return every day if necessary. A staff of 1,000 technicians will begin evaluating the damage to public buildings and homes in L'Aquila and surrounding towns on Thursday, he said. ''(Aerial) photos of the entire area are already available and technicians are already working on this data,'' said the premier, stressing that ''the main priority will be returning still-liveable houses to their owners and opening up public buildings like schools''. The premier praised rescue workers, saying he was ''touched'' by the courage of firemen and troops ''who really risked their lives to pull people out of the rubble''. ''We're not short of courageous Italians,'' he said, adding that ''Italy had responded to the emergency''. Responding to a foreign journalist who called ''out of place'' his quip on Tuesday that living in emergency field tents was somewhat like ''going camping'', the premier said ''No, I don't think so''. Berlusconi said the government had brought in paediatricians dressed as clowns to help children deal with Monday's devasting quake and ongoing aftershocks. ''This was needed to dispel an atmosphere of pessimism, negativity and death when a similar situation forces people to stay on,'' he said, reiterating an invitation to families to accept state-funded accomodations in hotels. Berlusconi said 17,000 hotel rooms were available for survivors.

h. 16:08
DAMAGE TO 'ALL' ARTISTIC HERITAGE
(ANSA) - Rome, April 8 - All of L'Aquila's artistic heritage suffered serious damage in Monday's earthquake, the Abruzzo regional culture department said Wednesday. Specialist teams have begun to suvey the extent of the damage to sites in L'Aquila and neighbouring towns but their work was hampered by the risk of further collapse. ''For the moment we can't do anything,'' said departmental architect Augusto Ciciotti. ''It's going to take months to make an inventory, stabilise the buildings, make a list of the damage, empty libraries, move paintings and statues and put them in warehouses we have yet to identify,'' he said. Culture Ministry Secretary-General Giuseppe Proietti said work could not be carried out until buildings were made secure after lessons learnt from a rescue operation following two strong earthquakes that struck on the same day in the Umbria and Marche regions in 1997. Following the first quake, two culture ministry surveyors examining damage in the Basilica of St Francis of Assisi were killed by falling rubble as a second, even stronger quake hit the region. ''Our priority is to erect scaffolding and supports to secure unsafe buildings,'' Proietti said. ''Without this we cannot begin our work''. Proietti said a team had so far been unable to enter the 16th-century castle that houses the National Museum of Abruzzo. Created in 1950, the Museum unified the collections of the civic and diocesan museums as well as a private collection of paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries and includes a beautifully preserved fossilised skeleton of a prehistoric elephant found near the town in the 1950s. The third floor of the castle collapsed in Monday's quake. ''The ancient access bridge has been heavily damaged and inside there's a danger of new collapses after the one on the third floor,'' Proietti said. ''We are thinking about using a crane to get over the walls and move the museum works to safety as soon as possible,'' he said, adding that the museum was being guarded against looters. Teams were also unable to make any inroads into recovering L'Aquila's state archives after the prefecture that housed them was flattened by the cupola of the next door 18th-century Baroque church of St Augustine. ' 'We don't know in what state we'll find the medieval documents, books and other material relating to the story of L'Aquila, but the estimated damage is incalculable,'' said Ciciotti. Among other buildings damaged in the quake was Abruzzo's largest Romanesque church, the 13th-century Basilica di Santa Maria di Collemaggio, whose apse collapsed. The Basilica, with its famed pink-and-white jewel-box façade, was the site of the coronation of Pope Celestine V in 1294 and thousands of pilgrims still flock there each year. The cupola of the 17th-century Anime Sante church designed by Giuseppe Valadier and the bell tower of L'Aquila's largest Renaissance church, San Bernardino da Siena, were also down. The Porta Napoli, the oldest and most beautiful gate to the city, built in 1548 in honour of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, was destroyed in the quake. Some heritage sites in nearby towns were spared in the disaster, including the mountaintop fortress of Rocca Calascio, the highest fortress in Italy, which dates to the tenth century AD and has suffered damage in other quakes over the centuries. Rome culture chief Umberto Croppi said a number of works by the 13th century painter Maestro di Fossa had been saved because they were on show in Rome when the church of Santa Maria ad Criptas in the town of Fossa was badly damaged in the quake. Photo: The Anime Sante church after the quake.

h. 15:51
SERIE B CALLED OFF
(ANSA) - Rome, April 8 - Friday's Serie B soccer matches have been called off as part of a national day of mourning for the victims of the L'Aquila earthquake, the Italian Soccer League said Wednesday. The fixtures have been moved to Tuesday, April 14, at 19:00 (17:00 GMT), it said. photo: from left, Italian Olympic Committee President Gianni Petrucci, Soccer Federation chief Giancarlo Abete, League chief Antonio Matarrese

h. 15:16
AZZURRI TO PLAY IN ABRUZZO
(ANSA) - Rome, April 8 - The Italian national soccer team will play its next match in Abruzzo to support relief efforts for the quake-hit region, the Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) said Wednesday. Currently, Italy has a friendly against Northern Ireland lined up on June 6. FIGC said it was ''working towards'' setting up an earthquake relief match on that date but did not say who the opponents would be. Italian soccer's top flight, Serie A, will play with black arm bands Saturday for the 250 or so victims of Monday's quake that devastated Abruzzo capital L'Aquila. The Italian Soccer League said it was thinking of calling off Friday's Serie B (second division) roster. Friday will be a day of national morning for the quake victims. photo: from left, Italian Olympic Committee President Gianni Petrucci, FIGC chief Giancarlo Abete, League President Antonio Matarrese

h. 15:00
QUAKE: 31 FIELD CAMPS SET UP TO HOUSE OVER 17,000 HOMELESS
(ANSA) - L'Aquila, April 8 - Relief workers have installed 31 field camps to house survivors of the quake which hit Italy's central Abruzzo region on Monday, Premier Silvio Berlusconi said on Wednesday. After visiting the stricken areas, the premier told reporters that 2,962 tents had been put up to house 17,772 people. Another 4,000 tents are available if needed, he said. ''We're okay on equipment,'' said Berlusconi, adding that 24 field kitchens and 14 first-aid centres had been intalled to help survivors. The premier said the government would also pay costs for the lodging of evacuees in hotels along Abruzzo's Adriatic coastline. Berlusconi has repeatedly urged families to move into the hotels, saying they would be better off than sleeping in tents. However, many of the homeless want to stay in the area, concerned about possible looting in their abandoned homes.

h. 14:26
QUAKE: 260 DEAD, 16 CHILDREN
(ANSA) - L'Aquila, April 8 - At least 260 people including 16 children have died in the L'Aquila earthquake, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi said Wednesday. He said the 8,500-strong rescue teams would keep combing the rubble over Easter for any people left. The premier voiced ''full confidence'' in the rescuers who were doing a ''splendid job,'' he said. The number of missing is said to be 2-3 but there have been conflicting reports. Solemn funerals will be held Friday by the city's archbishop, he said. Berlusconi's added that the government had decided to put a new anti-looting law on Italy's books envisaging stiffer penalties for people caught stealing after such disasters. There have been several reports of looting in the aftermath of Monday's quake which devastated L'Aquila and surrounding villages.

h.13:23
MAFIOSI EVACUATED FROM TOP SECURITY JAIL
(ANSA) - Rome, April 8 - Mafia bosses were among prisoners in L'Aquila's top-security jail transferred to other facilities in the early hours of Wednesday as aftershocks from Monday's earthquake continued to rock the Abruzzo capital. The prison administration department decided to move the inmates at 02:00 (00:00 GMT) as a precautionary measure despite a survey revealing no structural damage to the jail. ''It was an operation without precedents carried out not so much because of structural risks to the prison but to avoid dangerous tensions among the prisoners,'' said Justice Minister Angelino Alfano. Around 70 prison vans were required to transfer the detainees and it took 12 hours to evacuate the prison completely. Around 140 detainees have been serving time in L'Aquila under the so-called 41-bis regime, used for Italy's most dangerous criminals to prevent them from continuing to run their affairs from their cells. Under the tough regime inmates are kept in single-person cells and are almost entirely cut off from the outside world. Among mafiosi serving time in L'Aquila is Salvatore Madonia, a notorious Cosa Nostra mobster serving life for the 1991 murder of Palermo businessman Libero Grassi. Nadia Desdemona Lioce, a member of a resurgent Red Brigades terrorist group serving life for the 1999 murder of a labour ministry aide gunned down in Rome, is also a 41-bis prisoner at the jail. Prisoners serving regular sentences were transferred to other facilities in the Abruzzo region following the evacuation, while male 41-bis prisoners were moved to Spoleto prison in Umbria and the two women under the tough regime were taken to Rome's Rebibbia jail. Photo: L'Aquila jail.

h. 12:29
L'AQUILA ARCHBISHOP THANKS POPE
(ANSA) - L'Aquila, April 8 - The archbishop of L'Aquila, Msgr Giuseppe Molinari, has thanked Pope Benedict XVI for his announced intention to visit the region struck by Monday's devastating earthquake. ''It is with deep emotion that I thank the Holy Father for the visit he will pay to our city and the survivors of the earthquake. This is a great gift because it gives us the hope and strength to deal with the current situation, which is so dramatic, and to face such a difficult future,'' he said. Speaking to the Italian bishops' news service SIR, the archbishop said he thought the pope would visit next week. However, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardo said earlier that the visit would not take place before the Easter holidays and was unlikely to happen the week after.

h. 12:00
POPE TO VISIT ABRUZZO AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
(ANSA) - Vatican city, April 8 - Pope Benedict XVI intends to visit the region of Abruzzo as soon as possible to offer his comfort to the survivors of this week's devastating earthquake there, Vatican sources said on Wednesday. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardo said the visit would not take place before the Easter holidays and was unlikely to happen the week after. There had been unconfirmed rumors that the pope would celebrate the funeral mass for the quake victims in the region's capital L'Aquila on Friday, Good Friday. The death toll from Monday's earthquake was put at 250 on Wednesday.

h.11:05
251 DEAD, 11 STILL MISSING
(ANSA) - Rome, April 8 - The official death toll from Monday's devastating earthquake in Italy's central Abruzzo region has risen to 251, with 11 people still unaccounted for, the minister for relations with parliament, Elio Vito, told the Senate on Wednesday morning. Of the 251 dead, 17 have yet to be identified, he added. Vito said the government will soon declare a national day of mourning for the victims. Rescue operations were made more complicated Tuesday evening after a powerful aftershock rocked the region and was felt as far away as Rome. However, rescue workers Tuesday evening were able to save a 20-year-old woman who had spent 42 hours under the rubble in the region's capital, L'Aquila. A collective funeral will be celebrated in L'Aquila on Friday for the victims of the quake on an initiative from the archbishop's office to coincide with Good Friday. The service will be celebrated at a customs police training school, where a hangar is being used as morgue because of damage to the city's main hospital. Italian President Giorgio Napolitano will visit L'Aquila on Thursday, while Premier Silvio Berlusconi will return to the region Wednesday for the third day in a row. The premier's third visit will focus on inspecting damage to historic buildings and sites in order to begin programming their restoration.

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