Italy's premier Renzi is backing the earthquake victims around Norcia. If you believe seismologists, the worst could not be over.
By Andrea Bachstein, Rome
In the morning sun, people kneel on the Piazza San Benedetto in Norcia to cry and pray. They can no longer do it in their church. At 7:40 am the devastating earth strike has laid the medieval cathedral of the Holy Benedict in ruins. Only the wall with the portal from the 14th century has withstood the tremors of the strength of 6.5, the church gate now leads into a heap of dusty stones.
The bell tower is no longer there, the historic town hall is heavily damaged and all the churches of the town of Umbria, which is popular for its old town, are also the bridge from the Roman era. It was a stronger earthquake than the earthquake that cost Central Italy on August 24th and cost 300 human lives. It was the strongest earthquake in Italy since 1980. More powerful than that, which destroyed L'Aquila in 2009.
Luckily, this time there are probably no deaths to complain about. In the late morning, the Italian Civil Defense chief told Fabrizio Curcio that there were a few dozen injuries, but they had carried only minor injuries except one person.
The epicenter lay this time in ten kilometers depth near the 5000 inhabitants city Norcia and the smaller Preci. As in the August quake, the regions Umbria, Marche and Lazio were shattered. They were followed on the Richter scale by intervals of 4.6 and 4.1. Even in 200 kilometers distant Rome was the strongest impact. The operation of the subway was suspended for security reasons, the Basilica of San Paolo in the east of the city was closed. In a dwelling house an elevator crashed - empty fortunately, and minor damage to their walls and houses also had to be noticed by some Romans on Sunday.
From the heights the dust clouds were visible
The people in the areas around the epicenter, however, are in a state of shock, they thought the worst was over, and they could now deal with the damages of the summer before winter breaks in. However, the earth has never stopped there since August. Afterquakes with strengths well over 4.5 on the Richter scale they felt every few days, only last Thursday she had a tremor with 5.1 tremble. But that would not be expected.
In the mountainous Umbria the dust clouds, which rose from the collapsed walls above the villages, were visible from the heights on Sunday morning. They showed how violently the earth had rolled. Norcia and above all higher places were initially difficult or not accessible. The rescue workers were often unable to use the main roads due to landslides. However, there were already many civil protection forces in the region to look after the homelessness of the previous earthquake and to secure buildings.
