Italy Earthquake Aftershock Causes New Tremors

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Second wave unleashed on broken L’Aquila.

Tremors continued in Italy today as a powerful aftershock from Monday’s horrific earthquake in L’Aquila shook the shattered remnants of the city in Abruzzo.

Italy has not suffered from an earthquake this bad in over 30 years. According to officials in L’Aquila, the death toll has risen to 250 people, with more than 1500 people injured. The earthquake measured a huge 6.3 magnitude, causing devastation throughout the city and causing some 17,000 people to become homeless.

This morning’s aftershocks from the earthquake still registered a magnitude of 5.6, approximately 20 times less powerful than the original tremors, but still releasing enough energy to dislodge large chunks of damaged buildings including some masonry fall out from the San Massimo Cathedral. The aftershocks caused rumblings that were felt in Rome.

The emergency services, stretched to their limits over the past two days searching for survivors, were again scrambling to deal with the fresh problems presented by the aftershocks. No reports have been released at this moment if the aftershocks have had any impact on the numbers of injured or dead.

Last night, under the dazzling glaze of artificial floodlights, rescuers worked around the clock looking for survivors at part of the collapsed university. Two bodies were removed from the wreckage, with two students still missing.

As time goes on, the chance of finding victims of the earthquake alive are dwindling. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said at a national press conference that rescue operations would continue for the next 48 hours for a last ditch attempt to find those missing.

There was hope yesterday however, as a 20-year-old female survivor was extracted from the remains of a four storey building yesterday, having been trapped for 42 hours in the debris. In related natural disasters, yesterday a minor tremor was felt in Alaska, to the north of Anchorage. The quake was recorded as 4.7 magnitude, no injuries have been reported.