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Serious Italy earthquake again may avelenche snow

COW flu

Alfrescian
Loyal
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38663608

Italy earthquakes 'a catastrophe' for snowbound central region

18 January 2017
From the section Europe

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Image copyright EVN

The president of Italy's Marche region has described three powerful new earthquakes on Wednesday as a "catastrophe" and appealed for help.

Luca Ceriscioli said quakes and snow had caused landslides and thousands of families were suffering power cuts.

A number of villages had become isolated, he said, with fallen trees blocking snow ploughs.

European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker promised Italy would not be "left alone".

There were no immediate reports of deaths after the new tremors, which were all recorded as above magnitude 5.

Marche was one of the regions worst hit by the earthquake of 24 August, with 46 of its 298 victims losing their lives in a single mountain village there, Pescara del Tronto.

The latest tremors also affected the neighbouring regions of Abruzzo and Lazio and were felt in the capital, Rome.

Amatrice, the Lazio town where 236 of the August deaths were recorded, is close to the epicentre of the new quakes.

The tremors came after some 36 hours of steady snowfall in mountainous areas around Amatrice and Norcia.

Quakes 'ever present' for Apennines

Rush to help homeless after August quake

Why so many houses collapsed in August

'Maximum mobilisation'

The first big quake struck at 10:25 (09:25 GMT) with a magnitude of around 5.3, followed at 11:14 with one of 5.4, followed some 11 minutes later by another of 5.3, according to the Italian Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (in Italian).

All three were around 9km (5.6 miles) in depth, meaning they were dangerously close to the surface.

"It's a catastrophe," Mr Ceriscioli said, as civil defence leaders met to discuss the response in Marche.

"Today's tremors and the snow of the last days add huge problems, especially on the roads, to the dramatic situation caused by the [August] earthquake.

"The lack of electricity causes serious problems to thousands of families who don't know where to go or to stay."

The priority, he said, was "taking people to safe and warm places".

He appealed for "maximum mobilisation", saying the army was already lending assistance, and called on other parts of Italy to send help to clear the roads and restore power.

Saying the rest of Europe shared Italy's pain, Jean-Claude Juncker said he was sending his commissioner in charge of humanitarian affairs to Italy.

"We will provide all kinds of efforts, instruments, helps at our disposal because I think that in that matter, as in the migration matter, Italy cannot be left alone," he said.

"An earthquake in Italy is an earthquake in Europe - that's the way I'm considering this sad event."

Schools have been evacuated in the areas worst affected while in Rome, the underground system was shut as a safety precaution.

"Everyone is outside," Lina Mercantini, in the village of Ceselli in the Umbrian region, about 80km from the epicentre area, told Reuters news agency.

"It's very cold and windy. This is totally unnerving. It's never ending. We are all shaking."

Giuseppe Di Felice, a hotel worker in Capitagno very close to the epicentre area, told state-run Rai radio people couldn't get out of their homes. "It's apocalyptic," he said.

Life after L'Aquila's heart was ripped out
 

eatshitndie

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
sinkies should consider themselves blessed and lucky for not having natural disasters year round, thanks to pap.
 

COW flu

Alfrescian
Loyal
Already happened and Death Toll still unknown, hotel demolished by snow avalanche. Tua Kee already!



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...-many-dead-found-italian-hotel-hit-avalanche/


Live
Italy avalanche: 'Many dead' found in hotel hit by avalanche in Abruzzo after powerful earthquakes

Abruzzo avalanche: 'Many dead' found in Italian hotel hit by avalanche after powerful earthquakes Watch | Abruzzo avalanche: 'Many dead' found in Italian hotel hit by avalanche after powerful earthquakes
01:11

Louise Burke Associated Press

19 January 2017 • 9:24am

Avalanche buries Hotel Rigopiano in Abruzzo region
Up to 30 people missing, reports of 'many dead'
Italy hit by series of earthquakes on Wednesday

An avalanche has buried a mountain hotel in the earthquake-hit region of Abruzzo, central Italy, with up to 30 people feared missing under the snow.

The civil protection agency said on Thursday morning that they were working to get rescue vehicles to the Hotel Rigopiano through roads covered in snow, joining initial rescue efforts overnight by alpine rescue teams.

The ANSA news agency quoted a rescuer as saying that there were fatalities. Rescuers were quoted as saying they have been calling out to survivors but no one has responded. Separate media reports suggest that two people have been rescued.
Hotel Rigopiano has been buried in snow
Hotel Rigopiano buried in snow Credit: Virgili del Fuoco /PA Wire

The avalanche covered the four-star spa hotel in the central region of Abruzzo on Wednesday night.

The hotel is about 45 kilometers (30 miles) from the coastal city of Pescara. Earthquakes hit the region on Wednesday, including one with a 5.7 magnitude.

Mountain rescue teams reached the hotel by skis around 4am (0300 GMT), SKY TG24 reported.

Video footage shows rescuers with shovels digging through a wall of snow, and at least one man being led through the cleared path. An ambulance was blocked several kilometers from the hotel, according to SKY.
Where the avalanche took place

The mountainous region of central Italy has been struck by a series of quakes since August that destroyed historic centers in dozens of towns and hamlets.

A deadly quake in August killed nearly 300, while no one died in the strong aftershocks in October largely because population centers had already been evacuated.
Rescuers reach the hotel amid the search for survivors
Rescuers reach the hotel amid the search for survivors

In the meantime, the entire region has been hit by cold weather and buffeted by snowstorms, piling more suffering on to the hard-hit population.

People left homeless by the earlier quakes had been moved to hotels in the region, but it wasn't immediately clear who was staying at Hotel Rigopiano, which is located in the Gran Sasso National Park.

Auto update
8:53AM
'We're dropping our rescue units down by helicopter and they are starting to dig'

Weather conditions have made rescue efforts extremely difficult, with emergency services using a helicopter and skis to get personnel to the hotel.

"Around 30 people are unaccounted for, between guests and workers at the Hotel Rigopiano in Farindola," Fabrizio Curcio, head of Italy's civil protection department, was quoted as saying by Italian media.

Other officials said it was too early to say if anyone might have died, with the rescue operation hampered by up to 5 metres (16.4 ft) of snow which has fallen on the Gran Sasso mountain range in the central Abruzzo region in recent days.

"We're dropping our rescue units down by helicopter and they are starting to dig," said Luca Cari, spokesman for the national fire brigades.

(19gen-9:00) Drago54 sulla verticale #HotelRigopiano. Soccorso in atto pic.twitter.com/udCEEQlcPt
— Vigili del Fuoco (@emergenzavvf) January 19, 2017

(19gen-8:30) #HotelRigopiano, Drago54 sta calando ora squadre soccorso #vigilidelfuoco con verricello su obiettivo pic.twitter.com/LQAhSRaSES
— Vigili del Fuoco (@emergenzavvf) January 19, 2017

8:40AM
First images emerging from rescue efforts
Rescuers reach the hotel amid the search for survivors
Rescuers reach the hotel amid the search for survivors
Rescuers reach the hotel amid the search for survivors
The hotel is buried under metres of snow
Rescuers reach the hotel amid the search for survivors
The hotel is buried under metres of snow
The hotel is buried under metres of snow
The hotel is buried under metres of snow


8:27AM
'30 missing', authorities say

Italian civil protection authorities say 30 people are missing after an avalanche covered a mountain hotel in central Italy.

The authority says they were working to get rescue vehicles to the Hotel Rigopiano through roads covered in snow, joining initial rescue efforts overnight by alpine rescue squads.

Italian media say that the avalanche covered the three-story hotel in the central region of Abruzzo on Wednesday night.

The news agency ANSA quoted a rescuer as saying that there were fatalities, but details weren't immediately available.
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COW flu

Alfrescian
Loyal
Minimum 4 dead already bodies found


http://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/world/girl-pulled-from-avalanche-hotel-wants-cookies-1.3249336

Girl pulled from avalanche hotel, wants cookies
Paolo Santalucia, Gregorio Borgia and Colleen Barry , The Associated Press
Published Friday, January 20, 2017 3:20AM EST
Last Updated Friday, January 20, 2017 4:09PM EST

FARINDOLA, Italy -- With cheers of "Bravo! Bravo!" rescue crews pulled survivors from the debris of an avalanche-crushed hotel in central Italy on Friday, boosting spirits two days after massive snow slide buried some 30 people. Four children were among the 10 people found alive -- and one asked for cookies when she got out.

The news buoyed rescue workers who had already located four bodies in the rubble of the luxury Hotel Rigopiano, 180 kilometres northeast of Rome, where the avalanche dumped 5 metres of snow on top of the resort.

"Today is a day of hope. There's a miracle under way," declared Ilario Lacchetta, mayor of the tiny town of Farindola, where the hotel is located.

Relatives of the missing rushed from the rescue operations centre in the mountains to the seaside hospital where the survivors were taken for treatment in hopes that their loved ones were among the lucky few to be found.

First word of the discovery came around 11 a.m. Video released by rescuers showed a boy wearing blue snow pants and a matching ski jacket emerging through a tunnel dug in the snow. It was Gianfilippo Parete, the 8-year-old son of Giampiero Parete, a chef vacationing at the resort who had gone to his car when the avalanche struck and first sounded the alarm by calling his boss.

Emergency crews mussed the boy's hair in celebration. "Bravo! Bravo!" they cheered.

Next to emerge was his mother, Adriana Vranceanu, 43, wearing red snow pants and appearing alert as she told rescuers that her 6-year-old daughter, Ludovica, was still trapped inside. Mother and son were helped to a stretcher for the helicopter ride out.

They were then reunited with Parete at a hospital in the coastal town of Pescara, suffering from hypothermia and dehydration but otherwise in good health, hospital officials said.

"They had heavy clothes," said Dr. Rossano di Luzio. "They had ski caps to cover themselves. They remained away from the snow and cold, they were always inside the structure. That's why the hypothermia wasn't severe."

Ludovica was later rescued and asked for cookies when she got out: Ringos, an Italian version of Oreos, said Quintino Marcella, the restaurant owner who rallied the rescue after getting the phone call from her father.

About 30 people were trapped inside the hotel in the Gran Sasso mountain range when the avalanche hit Wednesday after days of winter storms that dumped up to three meters (nearly 10 feet) of snow in some places. The region was also rocked by four earthquakes on Wednesday, though it was not clear if they set off the avalanche.

As the rescue work continued, relatives of the missing gathered anxiously at the Pescara hospital waiting for word of their loved ones.

"I just hope that my niece and her boyfriend will make it out of there," said Melissa Riccardo. "We came to see if she was here."

A few erupted in frustration at an evening news conference.

"The only news I have has been from the internet. They haven't given me anything direct," said Domenico Angelozzi, awaiting news of his sister and brother-in-law.

The number of survivors found and extracted evolved over the course of the day.

"We found five people alive. We're pulling them out. Send us a helicopter!" a rescuer was heard saying over a firefighters' radio as Associated Press reporters made their way on foot to the site of the disaster.

Late Friday, civil protection chief Fabrizio Cari said a total of 10 people had been found alive: Five who had been extracted, including four children. Rescuers were working to remove the rest, he said.

"A beautiful feeling. Wonderful. I can't describe it!" marveled Simona Di Carlo, aunt of Edoardo Di Carlo, after hearing word that he was among the survivors. "But I would like to see him."

Rescue crews said one group of survivors was found in the hotel's kitchen area in an air pocket that formed when reinforced cement walls partially resisted the avalanche's violent power.

"It's probable that they realized the risk and took protective measures," firefighter Giuseppe Romano said.

Those being rescued were in remarkably good condition, rescue workers said. Titi Postiglione, operations chief of the civil protection agency, said survivors would help rescuers try to locate others trapped in the hotel.

Prosecutors opened a manslaughter investigation into the tragedy and were looking into whether the avalanche threat was taken seriously enough, and whether the hotel should have been evacuated earlier given the heavy snowfall and forecasts.

"That hotel, in that historic moment, should it have been open?" prosecutor Christina Tedeschini was quoted by the ANSA news agency as saying. "If the people wanted to leave, what prevented them from doing so?"

Parete, the survivor who sounded the alarm, said the guests had all checked out and were waiting for the road to be cleared so they could evacuate. But the snowplow never arrived and the avalanche hit around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

In addition, pleas for a rescue team initially went unheeded by Italian authorities. Marcella, Parete's boss, said his call to the Pescara prefect's office was rebuffed because the hotel had informed it a few hours earlier that all was OK there.

He persisted with other emergency responders and eventually someone took his information seriously and mobilized the rescue some two hours later.

Tedeschini said the delay was "a relevant theme that we will look into."

The operation has also been hampered by fears of triggering new avalanches and building collapses onto possible survivors trapped in the rubble.

Workers have been clearing a seven-kilometre (5.5-mile) road to bring in heavier equipment, but the mountain road can handle only one-way traffic and is covered with snow and fallen trees and rocks.

Days of heavy snowfall had knocked out electricity and phone lines in many central Italian towns and hamlets, and the hotel phones went down early Wednesday, just as the first of the four powerful earthquakes struck.

The force of the massive snow slide collapsed one wing of the hotel and rotated another off its foundation, pushing it downhill.

Lacchetta, the Farindola mayor, said the hotel had 24 guests, four of them children, and 12 employees onsite at the time of the avalanche.

An Alpine rescue team was the first to arrive at the hotel on cross-country skis after a seven-kilometre journey that took two hours. They found Parete and Fabio Salzetta, a hotel maintenance worker, in a car in the resort's parking lot.

Parete was taken to a hospital while Salzetta stayed behind to help rescuers identify where guests might be buried and how crews could enter the buildings.

The mountainous region of central Italy has been struck by a series of quakes since August that destroyed homes and historic centres in dozens of towns and hamlets. A deadly quake in August killed nearly 300 people. No one died in strong aftershocks in the region in October, largely because towns had already been evacuated.

Barry reported from Pescara. AP writer Nicole Winfield contributed from Rome.
 
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