Tonight, a powerful quake (magnitude 6.3 Richter, 8-9 Mercalli) hit the center of Italy, not far from Rome. Abruzzi region and L'Aquila city in particular, that was mainly interested by the earthquake are now counting his losses both in terms of human life and artistic/historical patronage.
Up to this moment 40 people died (at least 5 of them were children) and 40 are missing.
A civil protection official told the BBC that 3,000 to 10,000 buildings may have been damaged only in L'Aquila, a medieval city founded in the 13th Century and rich of Baroque and Renaissance buildings. Italian journalist Paulo Pacitti told that the city centre had been hard hit.
Apparently not only civil buildings were damaged, but some churches, chapels and historical buildings collapsed as well. A legacy of the past of immeasurable value got lost in few seconds.
At the same time, many other small towns in the area are completely burned to the ground. Their buildings, much older and less subject to static measurements more common in bigger cities.
From time to time, I am giving a glance to the dozen of yellow daffodils I bought this morning on my way to the office from an old lady sitting on the wayside.
Today, I cannot avoid thinking yellow is the color of danger.
1 comment:
Number of people killed is now 247, while dozens are still missing. Thousands of people are now to be considered internal displaced person, they lost everything they had. Small quakes are still provoking crashes, and many historical building are lost, probably forever. A whole Region is at the end of its tether.
Post a Comment