(see related)Preparations are
underway for a State funeral later on Tuesday for 37 of the
earthquake victims from the Lazio mountain village of Amatrice,
which was largely destroyed by a 6.2-magnitude quake that struck
central Italy before dawn on August 24.
The quake took a total of 292 lives, with 231 dead in
Amatrice alone.
Civil Protection Department volunteers are setting up the
mass funeral area in the courtyard of the Father Giovanni
Minozzi Institute, which was founded to house orphans from World
War I and II and is presently a retirement home.
Most of the large building, which also housed an early
20th-century art collection, collapsed in the quake.
Rieti Bishop Domenico Pompili, Ascoli Piceno Bishop
Giovanni D'Ercole and ex L'Aquila bishop, Giuseppe Molinari will
officiate.
President Sergio Mattarella, Premier Matteo Renzi, and
House Speaker Laura Boldrini will attend.
A funeral procession made up of a dozen buses carrying some
of the 37 remains wended its way towards Amatrice, escorted by
police.
Amatrice Mayor Sergio Pirozzi and survivors yesterday
vehemently rejected authorities' proposal to hold the mass
funeral in the provincial capital, Rieti.
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