Italy earthquake kills at least 15

[NY Yankee]

A 5.8-magnitude earthquake shook a large swath of northern Italy on Tuesday morning, killing at least 15 people and bringing down buildings already damaged by a quake that hit the area nine days ago.

The tremors, which were felt as far away as Austria, were centred 25 miles (40km) north-west of Bologna, near Mirandola, close to where a 6-magnitude quake struck in the early hours of 20 May, killing seven.

The latest quake struck at 9am when many more local factories were open – a likely reason for the higher death toll.

At least one employee at a factory in Mirandola was reported dead after the building collapsed the day after it reopened following the earlier quake. In the same town a person was also killed when a house fell down.

In Rovereto sul Secchia a priest was killed by a falling beam when his church partially collapsed on him. Father Ivo Martini was visiting the church, which had been damaged in the earlier quake, to see if he could salvage a statue of the Madonna.

In Cavezzo, where a number of industrial buildings damaged on 20 May came down, a woman reportedly died in a furniture factory. Two cheesemakers were injured when large wheels of Grana Padano cheese fell from shelves.

Deaths were also reported in San Felice sul Panaro, Concordia and Finale Emilia. A woman in Rolo was in a serious condition after leaping from a second floor window.

In Cavezzo's old city centre several buildings and the back half of the city church were reduced to rubble. Tents had been set up near the town's sports complex and cots laid out in the tennis courts. Frightened residents sat or stood outside their homes, unsure of their next steps.

"I ran out of the fruit and vegetable store where I work as everything was falling off the shelves," said Marzia Dondi, 42, as she stood outside her home with her two sons, aged 15 and nine. "We haven't slept inside since last Sunday's quake. We're afraid to go back in. What a disaster. We were finally starting to calm down."

When the quake hit Maurizio Bruschi ran to rescue his mother and several other elderly residents from a nursing home. "I saw dust and smoke coming up from the factories and warehouses on the edge of town," Bruschi said. "Many told themselves that the worst was over. But we keep getting hammered. Tonight I am sleeping in my tent again."

Many locals were asking whether recent reports of gas drilling in the area might have contributed to instability of the area. Emergency workers directing traffic warned passersby not to smoke.

In the tent cities instructions were written in both Arabic and Italian, taking into consideration the large immigrant population of this industrial area.

Rescuers were searching through collapsed structures in Cavezzo, Medolla and Mirandola as dozens of aftershocks were registered throughout the region, five of which were above four in magnitude.

A castle in the town of Finale Emilia, which was damaged on 20 May, reportedly suffered further damage on Tuesday. The roof of the cathedral in Mirandola collapsed.

Thousands of locals have been living in tents and temporary accommodation since the first quake, afraid or unable to return to their homes.

On Tuesday the Italian prime minister, Mario Monti, asked people in the earthquake zone to "have faith" in rescue services. In Bologna authorities were phoning up to 12,000 elderly residents individually to offer advice as aftershocks continued.

"The fact that workers are again dying in these new shocks makes me think that factories were not rendered safe before sending people back to work," said Susanna Camusso, head of the CGIL union.

Experts have said the area was not considered at risk of seismic activity until studies were carried out in 2004.

In Parma a football friendly between Italy and Luxembourg due to be held on Tuesday evening was called off. Ferrari sent employees home from its car assembly line in Maranello "to allow them to reach their families".

Schools were evacuated across Emilia Romagna, but also in Florence. A hospital was reportedly evacuated in Modena and train services at Bologna were delayed for checks to be made to the lines.

People in Bologna rushed into the street at the moment of the quake, which was felt in Milan, Genoa and in the Veneto and Trentino regions. A statue in Venice collapsed as the quake struck.

Andrea Vogt in Cavezzo and Tom Kington Rome
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 29 May 2012 10.23 EDT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/29/north-italy-earthquake-deaths?newsfeed=true

I've never heard of earthquakes in Italy, but Italy is on a fault line. Fortunately, the UK is not.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I've never heard of earthquakes in Italy, but Italy is on a fault line. Fortunately, the UK is not.

Maybe it's just American reporting but there's been a lot, significant recent examples include 1980 in Urpinia: 2,914 killed; 1976 in Friuli: 989 killed; 2009 in L'Aquila: 308 killed, 65,000~ homeless.

 

[Ivo]

Considering how frequent earthquakes are in Italy, they don't seem too well prepared, judging from the damage reports...

More importantly though, I hope this is the last one for a while. The area has suffered enough in recent days.

 

[Eagle]

I've never heard of earthquakes in Italy, but Italy is on a fault line. Fortunately, the UK is not.

There are a lot, more than any other country in Europe. In fact this one is technically an aftershock of one that happened last Monday in the same area, killing seven others.

 

[ainsworth74]

Fortunately, the UK is not.

Perhaps not but we still get earthquakes. In the last five or so years there have been a few that have been felt by many around the country. Thankfully they tend not to be particularly powerful so there is little damage and few injuries.

Hopefully this earthquake will be the last for a while in Italy as they are of course still recovering from the one last week.

 

[Eagle]

Hopefully this earthquake will be the last for a while in Italy as they are of course still recovering from the one last week.

Unfortunately unlikely; these sorts of earthquakes usually come in groups of more than two.

 

[YorkshireBear]

There is a fault line forming down the east coast and into central london, not in our lifetime or even anywhere near, but it will happen eventually.
R.I.P to those who have lost their lives.

 

[ainsworth74]

Unfortunately unlikely; these sorts of earthquakes usually come in groups of more than two.

Yep that is the unfortunately the case, though hopefully the fault has released the worst of it energy now.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Don't forget that the Mediterranean area is very prone to earthquakes due to plate tectonics, as the African plate buts up against the Eurasian plate, which is the reason why the Alps were formed. Greece is another area where such events occur.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

These links may be of interest:

Worldwide earthquakes: http://www.emsc-csem.org/#2 ( defaults to European / Mediterranean page upon opening with map set to the past day ). Can be a bit slow to open.

UK earthquakes: http://www.earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk/ ( shows last 50 days )