State Funeral Held For Victims Of Italy’s Earthquake
Posted April 10, 2009 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Good Friday in Italy was more solemn than usual this year as thousands gathered at a state funeral for more than 200 victims of the country’s devastating earthquake.
The mass began with a message from Pope Benedict, delivered by the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. And Premier Silvio Berlusconi and other government officials were among the 10,000 people at the ceremony in hard-hit L’Aquila, held outdoors because the region’s churches were too unstable.
Flags across the country were lowered to mark the national day of mourning.
Buildings were reduced to rubble when the 6.3-magnitude quake hit central Italy at 3:32am Monday, leaving at least 290 people dead and nearly 40,000 people homeless. More than 24,000 are living in tent camps around the region. An additional 15,000 have been put up in seaside hotels.
On Friday, four days after the massive quake, rescue workers located someone alive beneath rubble. Firefighters have vowed to continue their work until all the missing has been accounted for.
Engineers and geologists have said buildings constructed to seismic-safety standards should have withstood a 6.3-magnitude quake.
A prosecutor from L’Aquila is probing whether building codes may have been ignored and shoddy materials used, in which case criminal charges may be possible.
