Aftershocks rattle central Italy towns
AMATRICE, Italy — Strong aftershocks rattled central Italy and shut down a key route into the hard-hit town of Amatrice today as hopes dimmed that firefighters would find any more survivors from the earthquake that killed at least 267 people.
The Italian government declared Saturday a day of national mourning and scheduled a state funeral to be attended by President Sergio Mattarella.
Some crumbled buildings in Amatrice cracked even further after the biggest aftershock of the morning struck at 6:28 a.m. The U.S. Geological Service said it had a magnitude of 4.7, while the Italian geophysics institute measured it at 4.8.
The shaking ground also damaged a key access bridge to Amatrice, forcing emergency crews to close it and making an already challenging traffic flow into the town worse. Civil protection officials were working to find alternate routes, since the bridge is crucial for emergency crews moving in and out of town.
The aftershock was preceded by more than 50 overnight and was followed by another nine in the next hour — part of the nearly 1,000 aftershocks that have rocked Italy’s central Apennine Mountains since the original 6.2-magnitude quake early Wednesday.
Premier Matteo Renzi has declared a state of emergency and authorized 50 million euros for immediate quake relief.
Rescue efforts continued through the night and into today, but more than a day and a half had passed since the last person was extracted alive from the rubble. While Renzi hailed the fact that 215 people had been rescued after the quake, authorities reported a steadily rising death toll that had hit 267 by Friday morning.
Civil protection operations chief Immacolata Postiglione still insisted Friday that the rescue effort hadn’t yet switched to a recovery mission. Rescue workers have noted that a person was pulled out alive 72 hours (three days) after the 2009 earthquake in the Italian town of L’Aquila.
