A powerful earthquake devastated a string of mountainous towns in central Italy on Wednesday, trapping residents under piles of rubble, killing at least 38 people and leaving thousands homeless.
The quake struck in the early hours of the morning when most residents were asleep, razing homes and buckling roads in a cluster of communities some 140 km (85 miles) east of Rome.
A family of four, including two boys aged 8 months and 9 years, were buried when their house in Accumoli imploded.
As rescue workers carried away the body of the infant, carefully covered by a small blanket, the children’s grandmother blamed God: “He took them all at once,” she wailed.
The army was mobilized to help with special heavy equipment and the treasury released 235 million euros ($265 million) of emergency funds. At the Vatican, Pope Francis canceled part of his general audience to pray for the victims.
Aerial photographs showed whole areas of Amatrice, voted last year as one of Italy’s most beautiful historic towns, flattened by the 6.2 magnitude quake.
The hospital in Amatrice was among the buildings that were badly damaged, and patients were moved into the streets.
“Three quarters of the town is not there anymore,” Amatrice mayor Sergio Pirozzi told state broadcaster RAI. “The aim now is to save as many lives as possible. There are voices under the rubble, we have to save the people there.”
MORE from Reuters.
Stella's Place 
Seen on Facebook:
Well I am a geologist. And if I worked in Italy, I would get the hell out of there right now. Because Italy, lest we forget, is where a judge sentenced some geologists to 6 years in prison for manslaughter in 2014 after their failure to predict a similar-magnitude quake in 2009.
LikeLiked by 3 people
From a country that’s had how many changes of government since the end of WW II this is surprising how?
LikeLiked by 2 people
Surprising? Not really. Interesting, though.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, appears their pols developed their government by studying the Marx Brothers in clown college.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Three hours ago there was a 6.8 and a 6.9 in Myanmar. Unusually quite in the United States.
http://quakes.globalincidentmap.com/
LikeLiked by 2 people
I see that. Waiting for additional info.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yeah, but if we do get one it’ll be Bush’s fault.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Looks like things underground may be getting a bit active: https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/etna/news.html
LikeLiked by 1 person
All the news articles I have seen are saying the epicenter was in Norcia, although some maps put stars on the map showing the location of the quake to be a few miles southeast of Norcia. Norcia is the home of the The Benedictine Monks of Norcia, most of whom are younger American men. These monks moved into the Basilica of St. Benedict in 2000. The basilica was built over the birthplace of St. Benedict and St. Scholastica. The last monks before this group left the location in the early 1800’s. My understanding is that the basilica had been sitting there unused and crumbling for those years. These men are trying to rebuild the basilica and much of the work is done with their own hands. One of their sources of income is the beer they brew, and the brew-master is a man from the Ozarks. In the last few years, their brewery began shipping their beer out of country, and it is popular in the U.S. They have also produced at least one beautiful Gregorian Chant CD.
Here is a report from Hilary White, who was a Catholic reporter/journalist based in Rome for years. She left Rome (sick of Vatican politics and intrigue) and moved to Norcia a few years ago. She tells an interesting story of the events during and after the earthquake. Apparently no one in Norcia died and the town was not destroyed, as some of the nearby towns were. The Basilica was damaged, and the monks and villagers, as well as tourists, gathered in the plaza to help each other and pray, even as aftershocks were rolling through. Father Cassian, the American founder of the Order, led the people down into the crypt church to sing the Office of Laudes, since they couldn’t use the Basilica. Good read:
http://whatisupwiththesynod.com/index.php/2016/08/24/6-2/
The Monks of Norcia webpage:
https://en.nursia.org/
LikeLiked by 3 people