Deadly quake nightmare returns to haunt Italy
What you need to know:
- The quakes, all measuring more than five magnitude, struck close to Amatrice, the mountain town devastated by an August earthquake that left nearly 300 people dead.
- The body of one victim was found under the debris of a building in the town of Castel Castagna, in the province of Teramo, local authorities said in a statement.
Italy was hit by four earthquakes in four hours Wednesday, killing one and bringing terror to snowbound mountain areas still recovering from last year's series of deadly tremors.
The quakes, all measuring more than five magnitude, struck close to Amatrice, the mountain town devastated by an August earthquake that left nearly 300 people dead.
The body of one victim was found under the debris of a building in the town of Castel Castagna, in the province of Teramo, local authorities said in a statement.
And as night fell and temperatures plummeted, fears mounted for isolated residents of remote hamlets cut off by heavy snowfall.
More than 130,000 homes were without electricity. A mother and child dragged from the ruins of a collapsed country cottage near Teramo in the Abruzzo region were both found to be suffering from hypothermia.
Shortly before dusk, Nello Patrizi, a farmer in Montereale, south of Amatrice, was out with his dog, trying to check on cows knee-deep in snow.
"It was an apocalyptic shock. We were petrified," the 63-year-old told AFP.
"The first one was bad enough, the others seemed even stronger. You had the impression everything was collapsing, people were screaming.
"With all the snow there was this morning, people could not get out of their houses. I thought 'all we need now is an earthquake' and here it is."
Source: AFP
