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Earthquake forces hundreds from homes
By ANTONIO DENTI
Reuters News Agency
Wednesday, October 30, 2002 – Print Edition, Page A14
SANTA VENERINA, ITALY -- A series of
quakes rocked Sicily yesterday, leaving hundreds of people, whose homes were
damaged or who feared being buried in their homes, camped outdoors. Nearby,
Mount Etna, Europe's most active volcano, spewed lava and ash for a third
day.
The strongest tremor, 4.4 in magnitude, jolted the town of Santa Venerina, southeast of Etna, at about 11 a.m., damaging hundreds of homes, shops and the local church, and slightly injuring a handful of residents.
"We were really lucky that we were outside when it hit," said tearful resident Maria Lagana. "Nobody was hurt, but can you imagine the terror with all these children around?"
A series of quakes followed, rattling eastern Sicily all day and into the night, forcing families to camp outside rather than risk being buried. After a hastily called cabinet meeting last night, the Italian government declared a state of emergency in the area around Etna, ordering 1,000 soldiers and a ship equipped with a medical clinic to the area.
The latest shock comes after initial quakes preceded Etna's awakening, which saw rivers of lava flow down the mountain and billows of ash rise into the sky.
Dark, ash-filled clouds stretched to Africa yesterday and were visible from space amid continued volcanic activity.
Experts said the latest earthquakes, however, were not necessarily related to Etna's rumblings and were optimistic the lava flows would diminish.
"The situation is fairly calm, in the sense that there isn't any danger for the towns," said Enzo Boschi, director of the national geophysics institute.
"The lava fronts are moving a little less quickly," he said, but added it was hard to predict volcanic activity.
However, others were not so confident.
Officials in Catania, Sicily's second-largest city and which sits in the shadow of Etna, said airports and schools would remain closed until tomorrow as ash continued to rain down on the city yesterday. People carried umbrellas to protect themselves from flaming particles.
In Santa Venerina during the biggest quake, screaming mothers ran into the streets clutching their children as huge chunks of cement showered down on cars and sidewalks.
An entire block of homes was damaged, forcing about 1,000 of the 7,000 residents into tents.
In Linguaglossa, a popular ski town whose name means "tongue of lava," locals marched through town with a statue of their patron saint in the hopes of staving off the biggest lava river, which was only eight kilometres away.
When the town's residents did that in 1923, the lava halted, the locals said.
Etna, which had its last major eruption in 1992, is almost constantly rumbling, but experts say its fissures act like vents, releasing pressure at regular intervals instead of allowing it to build up into a massive explosion.
Etna has not produced any serious activity since July and August of last year.