Italy will hold state funerals for the victims of a devastating quake on Wednesday. There have been 281 confirmed deaths, and the hope of finding more survivors is dwindling.
Photo taken on Aug. 26, 2016 shows a gymnasium which is turned into a temporary shelter for earthquake victims in the town of Amatrice, Italy. [Photo: Xinhua]
Italy will hold state funerals for the victims of a devastating quake on Wednesday. There have been 281 confirmed deaths, and the hope of finding more survivors is dwindling.
Flags will fly at half-staff across the country on Saturday to coincide with funerals for some of the victims.
Rescue teams have kept digging for survivors, but none were found overnight in the remote mountain villages blitzed by Wednesday's powerful pre-dawn quake.
So far, 238 people have been rescued from under the rubble.
Bastien Bizieux, volunteer for the International Technical and Assistant Search Brigade, explains the difficulty in the search.
"The situation in the red zone is very complicated. The main road into the town is totally destroyed. The surrounding area is in a different situation in terms of damage. The problem is that the main road is quite narrow so the machinery takes up all the space, the diggers and all that, also risk the rescue workers. Our work is really confined and that's whats limiting the commitment that is possible of the teams."
Members of "The Ram Union search and Rescue Team" from Zhejiang Province in eastern China have also joined the rescue efforts in the quake zone.
Wednesday's 6.0-magnitude quake struck the mountainous heart of the country, with Amatrice, Arquata del Tronto and Pescara del Tronto being the worst hit towns and villages.
Meanwhile, over 900 aftershocks have been registered since after the first quake, according to the National Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
Some of the tremors were intense and sparked alarm among locals and rescuers.
An estimated 2,500 people were displaced in the quake. Among them, many children are currently being settled in the rescue center established by charity group Save the Children in Amatrice.
Danilo Giannese, a spokesperson for the charity group, says the aim is to provide safety to the children.
"We have set up a special space for children, it's a safe space, a protected space where the children, with the help of Save the Shildren educators, can play, draw, play some music, read and write fairy tales. Through this place, we want to give back to these children some peace, some calm, a place where they can feel safe again."
State funerals are planned in the city of Ascoli Piceno, near the village of Arquata del Tronto.
Funeral services will be held at 11:30 local time on Saturday in the presence of top authorities, including President of the Italian republic Sergio Mattarella, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, and Lower House chairwoman Laura Boldrini.
A day of national mourning will be declared, with flags lowered to half-staff across the country.
Wednesday's quake is deemed as the worst disaster to struck Italy since the 2009 temblor in the city of L'Aquila that killed over 300 people.
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