Italy 2009 Earthquake

On April 6, 2009 an earthquake struck L’Aquila in Italy, killing at least 207 people and leaving tens of thousands homeless. As many were found buried in the rubble, the death toll climbed and fear was still lurking among the citizens. They were informed there was a great possibility of a large aftershock. While residents slept in their beds, they did not know at 3:22 a.m. they might be crushed in their sleep as an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.3.  The effects of the quake were felt as far away as Naples.  Because Italy’s peninsula is crossed by two fault lines, nearly 20 million of Italy’s residents were at risk from earthquakes. A total of 26 cities and towns were damaged, nearly 10,000 buildings had substantive damage as well. Not only were cities and buildings damaged but nearly 40,000 people lost their homes. The most important issue was to find help for those people before nightfall. ( Israely , 2009 )

As the citizens were beginning to lose hope, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi went out to L’Aquila to survey the damage, and pledged to continue rescue operations for at least 48 hours longer, in hopes of finding more people lost in the rubble. At first the Prime Minister declined aid from other countries, and then decided to accept the support offered by President Obama. The support which was given was only used to preserve the region’s cultural and artistic heritage. In an effort to preserve the historic center, officials closed off all roads entering in fear there would be more collapsing. Many citizens ran to family and friends who were not affected by the quake instead of taking shelter in the safe houses the government had set up. One of the areas many of the newly homeless took advantage of the help the government had set up along the Adriatic Coast in hotels. Others had slept in their cars. People of Italy had growing suspicions as to why many of the newer buildings had collapsed under the quake. They were told by the Prime Minister, a new program to rebuild stronger houses was in the process. ( Donadio, & Povoledo, 2009 )

Among some of the buildings that had collapsed were university dormitories, churches and bell towers. Residents and rescue crews were desperate to find their loved ones and began to use their bare hands to clear debris from the falling buildings and broken ground. Army and civil protection units from all over Italy joined together for a common cause; to save anything and anyone. A man hospital became much crowed while many were waiting doctors who were forced to treat citizens in open air. Representatives from the Red Cross had mad arraignments to have two field hospitals set up in the areas of need, but they knew that even with the field hospital’s help, there would still be lack of help. While the death toll was high in the areas that were directly impacted by the quake, surrounding cities were also affected and had death tolls that continued to climb as the days went on. ( BBC , 2009 )

Israely, j. (2009, April 6). Italy's earthquake: could tragedy have been avoided?. Time, Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1889644,00.html

BBC , N. (Writer). (2009). powerful italian earthquake kills many [Television series episode]. In (Executive producer), One Minute world news. BBC.

Donadio, R., & Povoledo, E. (2009, April 7). Rescuers scramble in search for quake survivors. New York Times, 8, Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/world/europe/08quake.html