Thousands of people are
unable to use their homes after two big earthquakes shook
central Italy on Wednesday, two months after a devastating quake
claimed almost 300 lives.
"We have around 2,000 or 3,000 homeless people," Cesare
Spuri, the head of the Civil Protection Department in the
central Marche region, told ANSA on Thursday.
A 73-year-old man died of a heart attack linked to the
quakes and several people suffered minor injuries.
There was significant damage in many towns but there are
no reports so far of people being buried under rubble.
The first 5.4-magnitude quake struck at 19:10 Italian time
and was followed by an even bigger one, of magnitude 5.9, at
21:18.
The fact that many people left their homes after the first
big quake, and so were outside when the second struck, may have
saved lives.
Many of the people made homeless by the quakes had to
sleep in cars in cold conditions and torrential rain.
There have been at least 200 aftershocks, the National
Institute of Geophysics (INGV) said Thursday.
"There were 105 registered after 2:00 in the morning (on
Thursday) alone," INGV seismologist Alessandro Amato told ANSA.
"Overall, there were 30 aftershocks of magnitude 3.0 or higher".
Four were above magnitude 4.0, all in the area of the
Marche city of Macerata, including a 4.4-magnitude tremor near
Castelsantangelo sul Nera.
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