Roof Collapse, 10 Children Killed in Italy Earthquake

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, November 01, 2002

Roof Collapse, 10 Children Killed in Italy Earthquake

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A strong earthquake brought down the roof of a nursery school in Italy Thursday, trapping dozens of children during their Halloween party. Firefighters said at least five children were killed, along with a woman who lived nearby.

Around 20 children and two teachers were pulled out alive and taken to nearby hospitals, said firefighters in Rome, who were coordinating the rescue effort.

RAI state television said eight of the 20 children rescued were suffering from critical injuries.

Hours after the quake struck, rescue workers climbed over the rubble of the collapsed school searching for survivors, as parents kept behind police tape frantically screamed out the names of children believed inside, witnesses said.

Television footage showed firefighters bringing out dusty, dazed children from the heaping cement slabs as residents, some with their faces painted for the annual "trick or treat" Halloween festivities, waited for information.

"They were all together in the school because they were having a Halloween party," said Tonino Scarlatelli, an official in the Molise regional president's office.

"Many buildings have collapsed throughout the village, we fear there might be other victims outside of the school," he added.

Devastating Scenario

Information was difficult to confirm because phones lines around the region weren't working following the 5.4-magnitude quake, which struck the Campobasso area northeast of Naples at 11:33 a.m.

About 70 percent of the homes in the region were damaged, many with collapsed roofs, the AGI news agency reported, citing results of an aerial survey conducted by the government's forestry department.

"The scenario is devastating," AGI quoted forestry Cmdr. Luigi Falasca as saying. "Fortunately, the damage is limited to a restricted area."

The nursery school where the children were crushed was located in San Giuliano di Puglia, a village of 1,195 people near the epicenter in Campobasso, about 50 miles northeast of Naples and 140 miles southeast of Rome.

Firefighters in Rome confirmed about 50 children had been trapped in the school.

Scarlatelli said five children and one elderly woman had been killed. Firefighters said the woman was killed in her home in San Giuliano di Puglia.

Dr. Mirella Esposito said three children from the school had been brought to the emergency room at Termoli hospital for treatment of various, non-life-threatening injuries from being "crushed" by the school roof.

Panic in the Streets

Hospitals as far away as Foggia, 45 miles to the east, were offering blood to the region, hospital officials said.

Two aftershocks with magnitudes of 2.9 and 3.7 also had their epicenter around Campobasso, said Marco Ludovici, an official with the Civil Defense department in Rome.

The temblor was felt across the Adriatic in Croatia, particularly on high floors of apartment buildings, the Croatian Seismological Institute said.

"It was a tremendous explosion," said Giuseppe Moffa, an official at the regional president's office in Campobasso.

Schools were evacuated in at least three towns in the region, and in the city of Isernia, about 15 miles from Campobasso, the Italian news agency ANSA said.

Panicked residents rushed into the streets, the civil defense said.

The quake tore huge chunks of plaster from ceilings and left gaping cracks in walls, Italian news reports said.

Widespread Seismic Activity

Also Thursday, a 3.7-magnitude quake hit Mount Etna, the Sicilian volcano that began erupting Sunday. No damage was reported.

The National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology in Rome said the quake in central Italy and the one shaking Etna did not appear to be connected.

"The two epicenters are very far away from one another, and the nature of the quakes are different," said the institute's Alessandro Amato. "The Etna quake is caused by its volcanic activity, the magma underneath the volcano, which is certainly not the case with the Campobasso quake," he added.

He said since the Etna quake had a rather small circumference "it would be difficult to think it would cross the sea and various regions to reach Campobasso."

In 1980, an earthquake in the area of Naples killed 2,570 people and left 30,000 homeless in the southern Campania and Basilicata regions.

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Roof Collapse, 10 Children Killed in Italy Earthquake

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