A powerful earthquake struck northern Italy on Sunday, killing at least six people and reducing medieval castles, churches and clock towers to rubble
7:03PM BST 20 May 2012
The 6.0 magnitude earthquake hit at around 4am local time in the Emilia Romagna region between the historic cities of Bologna, Modena and Ferrara — the latter a Unesco World Heritage site.
The quake was almost as powerful as one which devastated the central region of Abruzzo in 2009, killing more than 300 people and leaving tens of thousands homeless.
Although there were far fewer casualties from Sunday’s earthquake, it was felt as far away as Venice, the German-speaking South Tyrol region of far northern Italy and the Friuli region on the border with Slovenia.
Thousands of panic-stricken residents ran out into the streets in their pyjamas and nightclothes, as statues crashed down from centuries-old palazzi and the roofs of churches collapsed.
“They were 20 to 30 seconds of sheer terror — everything was trembling and shaking,” said Clarissa Dal Bello, 20, a law student, who was in bed in her shared fifth floor flat in Ferrara when the quake hit.
“A picture fell to the ground and there was the noise of shattering windows. I didn’t know what to do — I was just rooted to the spot, paralysed by fear under the sheets, hoping that it would all be over quickly.”
Around 3,000 people were evacuated from their homes and emergency accommodation was hastily prepared by the authorities.
Aldra Bregoli, 73, who managed to quickly pull on a sweater over her nightgown as she evacuated her home, told AFP: “I had to run out as quickly as possible. The firemen told me I can’t go back in. I’m scared.”
The Italian cabinet is expected to declare a state of emergency for the region when it meets tomorrow.
Four of the victims, including a 29-year-old Moroccan immigrant, were night-shift workers who died when the roofs of factories caved in.
The other two were women who apparently died of heart attacks or other forms of shock when the quake hit — an Italian woman aged over 100 and a 37-year-old German who was living and working near Bologna.
Emergency officials searched through rubble for survivors and managed to pull a lightly injured five-year-old girl out of the remains of her badly damaged home.
Her relatives had been unable to get through to the emergency services on the telephone, so called a family friend who happened to be in New York, who managed to raise the alarm back in Italy.
As experts warned of the dangers of aftershocks, a strong new quake of 5.1 magnitude hit the region in the afternoon, seriously injuring a fireman who was hit by a falling roof tile.
In the town of Sant’Agostino, the fresh tremor led to the total collapse of the town hall, which had already been badly damaged.
The epicentre of the initial earthquake was the town of Finale Emilia, 20 miles north of Bologna.
A centuries-old clock tower in the town was sheared in two, with one half collapsing into rubble and the other standing precariously.
In towns and villages across the region, cars were hit by falling masonry and the streets were filled with rubble.
An imposing 14th century castle in the town of San Felice Sul Panaro was badly damaged by the quake, its battlements and towers crumbling into dust.
Three churches in the town were also affected, with centuries-old paintings damaged.
“We have lost virtually all our cultural heritage,” said Alberto Silvestri, the town’s mayor.
In the village of San Carlo near Ferrara, the roof of a 16th century chapel, which had taken eight years to restore, collapsed, leaving statues of angels exposed to the sky.
The church, which locals said contained the remains of a pope, may be beyond repair.
The ministry of cultural heritage in Rome said damage to historic buildings and the artistic treasures they contained was “significant”.
It is likely to be the biggest blow to Italy’s cultural heritage since 1997 when an earthquake badly damaged the Basilica of St Francis of Assisi in Umbria.
Emilia Romagna is renowned for its balsamic vinegar and prosciutto ham, and the region’s culinary icons did not escape damage.
More than 300,000 wheels of Grana Padano and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, worth millions of pounds, were destroyed in warehouses and stockrooms affected by the quake, according to an industry association.
While mountainous areas of Italy are prone to earthquakes, this one hit the low-lying valley of the Po River.
Enzo Boschi, a reputed seismologist, said it was the biggest to have hit the region for centuries.
“It is not true that there are never earthquakes in the Po plain. Ferrara suffered a very big one in the 15th century. You can still see the traces.”
