Aftershocks rattle Italy as national mourning begins

Ascoli Piceno Bishop Giovanni D’Ercole, who officiated the ceremonies, urged people not to be afraid and to have courage to rebuild homes and churches together.

“They were in an embrace”, D’Ercole said.

The youngest victim is an eight-month-old girl whose mother survived the devastating quake that struck L’Aquila in 2009.

Relatives mourn over a coffin of one of the quake victims prior to the start of the funeral service on Saturday in Ascoli Piceno, Italy.

A funeral has begun for some of the victims of the tragedy.

Mourners gather under an olive tree during the state funeral in Ascoli Piceno. “There are no words to describe it”, said town resident Gina Razzetti.

While most relatives who lost loved ones are still in shock, some are angry that it took rescue crews so long to reach badly-hit villages, Turton said. The Italian geological institute said more than 1,350 aftershocks had hit Italy’s central mountains since Wednesday’s pre-dawn 6.2-magnitude quake.

As flags across Italy flew at half mast on Saturday to mourn hundreds killed in Wednesday’s quake, the death toll climbed to 290 as rescue workers continued to discover bodies in the rubble.

Rescue efforts continued, but by nightfall, two full days had passed since the last person was extracted alive from the rubble.

Ahead of the funeral, the president visited Amatrice, where 230 people died. The quake was felt in many Italian cities, including Rome, Florence and Bologna.

On Friday, Amatrice Mayor Sergio Pirozzi said wooden houses would be built near destroyed buildings so that people would not abandon their towns, while the government in Rome pledged to reopen schools as soon as possible “to give a signal” that life would continue.

Earlier, Mattarella flew by helicopter to Amatrice, to meet rescue workers and survivors, and also made a stopover in nearby Accumoli.

Saturday’s mass funeral involved most of the dead from Arquata del Tronto, 25 kilometers (16 miles) to the southwest of Ascoli Piceno.

Even as the funeral service was taking place, another person died in hospital.

At the time, only meters (yards) from the church, firefighters were using their hands to dig out the two sisters, he said. Giulia, dead, Giorgia, alive.

Many children and elderly people were killed.

The one-street village of Saletta had less than 20 permanent residents but with its population swollen by summer visitors 22 people died there.

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Overnight, the area was rattled again by a series of aftershocks.

Italian scientific authorities say that satellite images show that the ground below Accumoli sank 20 centimeters (8 inches) due to the quake.