Death toll hits 235 as big aftershock shakes Italy quake area

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A 5.6-magnitude aftershock Tuesday evening hit the same central Italian region devastated by Monday's earthquake, sending people screaming and scrambling for cover.

The death toll from Italy's worst earthquake in three decades has now climbed to 235, with about 1,500 people injured, 100 of them seriously, according to the ANSA news agency.

At least 100 people have been pulled from the debris alive, including Eleonora Calesini, a 20-year-old student who was found in the ruins of a five-storey building in central L'Aquila, 42 hours after the quake hit.

"She's safe!" her grandfather, Renato Calesini, told the Associated Press. Other than an arm injury, she was reported in good condition.

Other survivors spoke about their ordeal.

"They had to dig to get me out," said one woman. "I was totally submerged in debris. Only my arms were left exposed."

The aftershock at 7:47 p.m. local time Tuesday demolished structures in the already battered medieval city of L'Aquila and was felt as far away as Rome, where it caused furniture to sway on the upper floors of buildings.

CBC on the scene

The CBC's Tom Parry was preparing to file a report from L'Aquila at the time.

"We've got a big tremor going on here right now ... I can hear car alarms going off, and now I can hear some sirens," he reported. "What I can tell you is that this one was at least as big as what we felt this morning when the ground shook at 4.9 on the Richter Scale."

Most of the people being pulled out of the rubble were dead, Parry said.

"The rescuers are trying to dig through the rubble …There's been dogs going through … There's been heavy equipment pulling up buildings that have just collapsed, and I think with the aftershocks we're feeling here … some of the buildings that have been weakened by the initial earthquake are certainly going to be even weaker now."

Officials said the death toll is expected to rise as search efforts continue.

The bodies were taken to a makeshift morgue in a hangar at a police officer's training school.

The dead included four students trapped in the rubble of a dormitory of the University of L'Aquila,

Rescue efforts to last another 48 hours

Earlier Tuesday, a 4.9-magnitude aftershock briefly halted the frantic search for survivors.

Aftershocks are common in the earthquake-prone region. After a 1997 earthquake, the area experienced a three-month stretch of such tremors.

Earlier, officials had estimated 50,000 people were left homeless by the quake, the epicentre of which was in L'Aquila, 110 kilometres northeast of Rome in the Apennine mountains. The initial quake struck at 3:32 a.m.  local time on Monday as people slept.

By Tuesday evening, the estimate of the number of people without shelter was lowered to between 17,000 and 25,000, because many moved in with friends or relatives.

Tent cities set up

To shelter the homeless against another chilly night in the mountains, the government set up 20 tent cities in open spaces around L'Aquila and surrounding towns. Field kitchens, medical supplies and clowns to entertain traumatized children were brought in.

Because there was limited space in the tents, priority was being given to women, children and the elderly, forcing many others to sleep in their cars or travel out of the area.

"I don't know how I'll make it," a dazed Pierina Diletti said as she stood in slippers and her nightgown outside her tent.

Tony Rambaldini of Montreal — who has owned and operated the Canadian Hotel in L'Aquila for 20 years — spent the night sleeping in his car in his hotel parking lot with his family.

"Everyone is scared and afraid to go back [inside] because we've been getting lots of aftershocks every hour," Rambaldini said.

Free hotel rooms

Abruzzo's Hotel Association made 6,500 hotel beds available across the region as a gesture of solidarity, said association president Emilio Schirato.

A total of 4,000 beds were filled by Tuesday afternoon, though there were some people who did not lose their homes who also tried to take advantage of the free hotel rooms, he said.

Italian President Silvio Berlusconi surveyed the damage in the region by helicopter Tuesday.

Rescue efforts will continue for another 48 hours, Berlusconi told reporters. After that point, the chance of survival for those trapped in the debris will have diminished, he said.

"The rescue efforts will continue for another 48 hours from today until it is certain that there is no one else alive," Berlusconi said.

Rescuers had to run from the rubble they were searching as the aftershock hit at 11:26 a.m. Tuesday.

The aftershock also struck fear into survivors at the camps and sent many running and crying from the temporary shelters.

"It was not too strong, but it was no good," Tommaso Della Longa, an official with the Red Cross, told CBC News.

Officials said the earthquake damaged or destroyed 10,000 to 15,000 buildings in 26 cities, towns and villages around L'Aquila, a picturesque city of 70,000.

Teams were to begin surveying those buildings still standing on Wednesday to assess whether residents could move back in.

'An immense shock'

Shaken survivors told reporters the quake sounded like a bomb in the night as their homes collapsed around them and expressed anguish at not knowing the fate of loved ones.

"It's a catastrophe and an immense shock," said Renato Di Stefano, who moved his family to one of the camps as a precaution. "It's struck in the heart of the city. We will never forget the pain."

Rambaldini described what he saw as he walked around the historic downtown core of L'Aquila on Tuesday.

"Buildings just split open in half, so what you saw was half a bathroom, half a kitchen," he said.

Rescuers are using cranes and steel clippers to try to look for survivors inside of collapsed buildings, Rambaldini said.

"Many of the buildings are very damaged, and a lot of people, I guess, are likely dead under the rubble," he said. "It's not a pleasant sight to see."

Lilly Centofanti waited with her mother on the lawn in front of a partially collapsed university dormitory for word of her 19-year-old brother, Davide, who lived on the third floor.

100 found alive

Officials have reported that small villages in the mountainous region have been destroyed by the quake, whose magnitude was measured as 6.3 on the Richter scale, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, and 5.8 by Italy's National Institute of Geophysics.

"All of a sudden I heard a boom, and all the books and knickknacks fell down," said Lucia Ferro, a 57-year-old resident who rushed out of her third-floor apartment wearing only pyjamas. "I saw the walls shake, and the table moved by itself."

The wounded were transported to the city's main St. Salvatore Hospital on Monday, but parts of the building were evacuated out of fear the structure could also collapse.

Two operating rooms in the hospital remained open, but more than 300 patients have been transported to nearby facilities while people in more serious condition had to be moved to Rome.

Medical staff are still attempting to treat minor injuries in a field hospital.

Determining the identities of some of the victims is difficult because the region attracts migrant agriculture workers, officials said.

Meanwhile, rescuers are still trying to reach more isolated hamlets in the region, which have been cut off because of damage to roads and bridges, officials said.

Looting arrests

Italy's national police chief, Antonio Manganelli, said several people were arrested overnight for looting abandoned houses.

The hardest-hit areas of L'Aquila, as well as the towns of Paganica and Onna, were cordoned off on Tuesday morning to prevent further looting.

Survivors were ordered out of buildings out of fear that aftershocks could cause further collapses. Following Tuesday's aftershock, Berlusconi again asked people to refrain from returning to their homes, even if they were still standing.

In L'Aquila, the earthquake damaged or destroyed many Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque and Renaissance landmarks and historic buildings, including churches, museums and castles. Stones also tumbled down from the city's cathedral, which was rebuilt after a 1703 earthquake.

Nearly half of Italy is labelled "dangerous" in terms of seismic activity, according to a 2008 report by Enzo Boschi, president of the National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology, and other Italian geologists and civil protection experts.

But only 14 per cent of buildings in that vulnerable swath were built to seismic safety standards, the report said.

"It is a serious disaster. Now we must rebuild, and that will require huge sums of money," said Berlusconi, who declared a state of emergency in the region to free up federal funds to deal with the crisis.

Some of Italy's soccer teams announced on Tuesday that revenue from upcoming matches would be sent to help victims. Universities throughout the country have also taken up collections.

Canada offers help

Prime Minister Stephen Harper released a written statement on Tuesday expressing condolences to residents of the affected communities.

"While the full impact of the earthquake continues to be assessed, Canada stands ready to support the government of Italy should it request international assistance," Harper said.

Meanwhile, the National Congress of Italian Canadians launched a fundraising campaign on Tuesday to aid in reconstruction.

"After the immediate relief is settled, there will be a great demand to help rebuild hundreds and hundreds of damaged homes," said congress spokesman Antonio Sciascia.

The aftermath of the quake is expected to seriously impact the region's economy, which is based on tourism, agriculture and family-run businesses.

This was Italy's deadliest quake since Nov. 23, 1980, when a 6.9-magnitude quake hit southern regions, levelling villages and causing some 3,000 deaths.

The last major quake to hit central Italy was a 5.4-magnitude temblor that struck the south-central Molise region on Oct. 31, 2002, killing 28 people, including 27 children who died when their school collapsed.