6.2 magnitude quake leaves nearly 250 dead - Amatrice turns into a ghost town

It was a 6.2 magnitude quake that struck the town of Amatrice in Italy early morning and left nearly 250 dead with the town resembling a ghost town. The town is a notable summer getaway in central Italy and is famous as the birthplace of a pasta dish made with tomatoes and pork cheeks.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 25 August 2016.

The main quake was followed by a number of strong aftershocks — including one nearly as strong an hour later — that flattened houses and buried residents in the rubble. As Mayor Sergio Pirozzi of Amatrice has revealed to the media - half the town no longer exists. In fact, Amatrice, a quiet mountain town about 100 miles northeast of Rome looked more like a ghost town. It has a permanent population of about 2,000 and is a place where people had ties to Rome in one way or another because of employment or business interests like running restaurants, bars and hotels - food has always been part of the town's culture.
Observers feel that the initial quake was comparable in intensity to the one in 2009 in the central Abruzzo region that took more than 300 lives. The quake and aftershocks were felt as far away as Bologna, Rome and Naples and camps were set up to house hundreds of homeless. The authorities were also trying to take stock of an unknown number of tourists.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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