Italians begin mourning 272 earthquake victims

Italians have begun to bury the victims of Monday's devastating earthquake, with a national day of mourning and state funeral scheduled for Good Friday.

The death toll from the earthquake in the mountainous Abruzzo region northeast of Rome reached 272 on Wednesday. The dead include 16 children, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi told a news conference

Nine people are unidentified, officials said, and 15 people are still listed as missing.

"We're in shock, because we have lost our loved ones, the town has been reduced to rubble with over 40 dead and lots of them were young, a whole generation cancelled out," Onna resident Antonella Massi told Reuters.

Fernando Caparso, mayor of Pacentro, the mountainside village where two of Madonna's grandparents were born, told the Associated Press on Wednesday that the pop star has promised $500,000 to help people in need.

Pacentro, located 100 kilometres from L'Aquila, the largest community near the earthquake's epicentre, felt the quake but didn't suffer major damage. Most of the donation will go to areas that were harder hit, Caparso said.

Liz Rosenberg, the pop singer's spokeswoman, confirmed a "substantial" pledge, but didn't disclose the figure.

The burial of some of the victims began on Wednesday with the first private services.

The funeral of university student Giuseppe Chiavaroli, 24, was held in his hometown, Loreto Aprutino, on Wednesday, with hundreds of mourners gathering to watch his coffin, which was draped in his soccer jersey, carried into the church.

A mass state funeral and a national day of mourning will be held on Friday, the start of the Easter weekend.

At least 1,000 people were injured in Monday's quake and of them, about 100 are still listed in serious condition, officials said.

The magnitude of the quake was measured as 6.3 by the U.S. Geological Survey, and 5.8 by Italy's National Institute of Geophysics.

Pope to visit

Pope Benedict XVI announced on Wednesday that he would visit the quake zone after the Easter weekend.

In a public statement made at the Vatican, the Pope praised the relief operations as an example of how solidarity can help overcome "even the most painful trials."

Rescue crews continued Wednesday to search for survivors. Searchers retrieved 15 bodies overnight.

As many as 15,000 buildings were either damaged or destroyed in the 26 cities, towns and villages that were shaken.

Though more than 48 hours have passed since the initial quake, rescue workers told reporters they were continuing their search in the hopes they would still find people alive in the rubble.

Reports emerged on Wednesday that a 98-year-old woman was rescued from the rubble of her home in the village of Tempera on Tuesday. Before she was transported to hospital, she told her rescuers that she had spent the more than 30 hours crocheting.

"It all depends on the conditions, if the person under the rubble has any air or water," said Cristian Martinez, from the Spanish rescue organization Unidad Canina, as his dogs ran across a pile of rubble that had once been a four-storey building in L'Aquila.

The dogs are trained to bark if they find someone alive and to dig if they've found a dead body. Martinez said his dogs have not found anyone alive in the area of the city he is working in.

"But we don't give up hope," said Martinez, adding that his dogs once found somebody alive 11 days after a quake in Pakistan.

Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said Wednesday that rescue efforts would likely continue until Sunday, beyond the time originally indicated by Berlusconi, which was Thursday.

17,700 in tent cities

Thousands of homeless have now spent two nights in cars and temporary shelters set up in 20 fields in the region.

"I slept so badly because I kept feeling the aftershocks," said Daniela Nunut. "What can you do? You can't go into the building."

There have been 430 aftershocks since the quake, which had an epicentre 110 kilometres northeast of Rome in the Abruzzo region of the Apennine Mountains, said Marco Olivieri of the National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology in Rome.

A strong 5.6-magnitude aftershock on Tuesday night caused more debris to fly, and sent survivors and rescue crews running for cover.

Massive temporary kitchens and field hospitals are scrambling to care for the 28,000 people left homeless.

Officials said as many as 10,000 people who lost their homes in the region have left the area to temporarily stay with friends or relatives.

About 17,700 people have crowded into the tent cities, which were set up to accommodate about 14,000 people, and priority has been given to pregnant women, children and the elderly.

The government and hotel owners offered free shelter for the homeless in hotels on the Adriatic coast.

Heritage sites damaged

Italy has turned down offers for immediate humanitarian aid despite opposition leaders urging Berlusconi to reconsider because the country has already been hard-hit by the global financial crisis.

Berlusconi said that his government will take up offers of funding to help rebuild communities and to restore some of the damaged cultural heritage sites.

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

Berlusconi said he hopes to have the Abruzzo region rebuilt within two years.

Teams began surveying the standing buildings on Wednesday to determine whether they are safe to enter.

Officials were allowing some people back into residential areas on Wednesday to briefly enter their homes to retrieve changes of clothing and a few personal belongings.

Damaged areas have been cordoned off to prevent looting and officials have appealed to residents to not yet return to their homes, which could be structurally unsound and prone to collapse in the continued aftershocks.

Berlusconi told reporters on Wednesday that extra security in the cordoned-off areas hasn't appeared to deter looters and the government was looking to increase penalties.

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