2 powerful quakes hit Italy near site of deadly August quake

[senona]

Campi, Italy (CNN)

Two powerful earthquakes Wednesday struck central Italy about 50 miles north of the site of a deadly August quake that killed nearly 300 people, the US Geological Survey said.


The second quake -- with a magnitude of 6.1 -- was 3.2 kilometers (2 miles) north of Visso and 58 km (36 miles) from Perugia, the USGS reported.


Just a few hours earlier, a magnitude-5.5 quake struck the same region. The epicenter was about 9 kilometers away, south-southwest of the town of Visso. The first quake hit at 7 p.m. (1 p.m. ET) between Perugia and Macerata, according to ANSA.

The Church of San Sebastiano stands amid damaged houses in Castelsantangelo sul Nera, Italy, following a pair of strong aftershocks that shook central Italy late Wednesday.

There have been no reports yet of injuries, although there was damage in Visso and another town, Campi, where the historic church, San Salvatore, was destroyed by the tremors -- the first severely damaged the 15th century structure and the second finished it off.

In Campi, hundreds of people were sleeping in their cars, with blankets covering the windows. The cars are parked everywhere -- streets, gas stations, parking lots. Some residents have taken their dogs with them in their cars.

Local media said one man had suffered a heart attack.

Residents were uncertain as to what might happen next, and expressed worry that another, bigger tremor, might cause even more damage.

The USGS said both earthquakes were shallow.

Source


I hope not many people were killed, but some of the buildings looked totally collapsed.
The buildings just crumbled.

Of course, the article said some buildings suffered damage from the Aug. EQ, so they were already unstable.


My thoughts and prayers once again go out to the people of Italy.

[senona]

Officials in quake-ridden central Italy assess damage

The morning after the quakes, there remained no reports of serious injuries or signs of people trapped in rubble. The head of Italy’s civil protection agency, Fabrizio Curcio, said it appeared that the situation “is not as catastrophic” as it could have been. A 73-year-old man died of a heart attack, possibly brought on by the quakes, local authorities told the ANSA news agency.

Mayors of towns scattered in the mountain region spanning the Umbria and Marche regions say many more homes were rendered uninhabitable, on top of those damaged in the August quake, while historic structures that survived previous quakes had succumbed this time.

Camerino Mayor Gianluca Pasqui said the town’s historic bell tower had collapsed, but emphasized that reconstruction work after a 6.1 quake in 1997 appeared to have contributed to the absence of serious injury.

“I can say that the city didn’t have victims. That means that even if there is a lot of damage probably the reconstruction in the historic center was done in a correct and adequate manner. Because otherwise, we would be speaking of something else,” Pasqui told Sky TG24.

Other than serious structural damage, doesn't appear to be many injuries at this time.
Let's hope it stays that way as they begin to access the damage.