Italy holds state funeral as earthquake toll hits 287

Nearly 200 wooden coffins, many of them covered by bouquets of flowers and photos of the dead, were laid out in four rows on the parade ground of a police academy in the mountain city of L'Aquila, the worst hit by Monday's 6.3 magnitude quake.

Relatives of the victims arrived from early in the morning for the funeral, due to start at 11 a.m. (0900 GMT), some kissing the coffins or sitting before them in silent prayer.

Several small white caskets, containing the bodies of children, sat on top of their mothers' coffins. "There is a lot of sadness today, but also a lot of anger," said Piero Faro, who came to pay his respects to family friend Paola Pugliesi, 65, who died with her son Giuseppe, 45. "Their building simply disintegrated. This should not have happened."

Rescue efforts were drawing to an end as hopes faded of pulling more survivors from the rubble. "The search is almost over," said Luca Spoletini, spokesman for the Civil Protection agency, which is coordinating Italy's response to the crisis.

Violent aftershocks continued through the night in the central Italian region of Abruzzo, damaging buildings in medieval towns and terrifying the 17,000 people living in tent villages. Thousands more survivors are being put up in hotels.

The government declared a national day of mourning. Flags were flown at half mast and in Rome many shops and businesses displayed signs saying they would close during the funeral.

"We thank the people of Abruzzo for their seriousness, civility, dignity and composure," said Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who travelled to L'Aquila for the funeral. "Today we pay homage to their dead, who are our dead."

More than 2,000 people were due to attend the ceremony, which will be led by the Vatican's second highest priest, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

The funeral required a special dispensation from Pope Benedict, who plans to visit Abruzzo soon, because mass is not usually celebrated on Good Friday in the Catholic church. There will also be an Islamic funeral for six Muslim victims.

Rebuilding starts

Attention is now starting to turn to the reconstruction of a region that relies on tourism, farming and family firms. Italy's industry minister said more than half of the companies in Abruzzo "are no longer producing".

One estimate put the damage at up to 3 billion euros ($4 billion), but its impact on Italy's nearly 2-trillion-euro economy, already mired in recession, is expected to be limited.

Berlusconi, who has dubbed L'Aquila a "ghost town", said on Friday Italy would receive up to 500 million euros from an EU fund to help cover some of the billions in reconstruction.

The government plans to suspend some tax, utility and phone bills in the affected areas and has earmarked 100 million euros for rescue, relief and reconstruction efforts. Italian banks may also suspend mortgage payments and bank charges for survivors.

The government has also announced an enquiry. President Giorgio Napolitano on Thursday said shoddy construction was to blame for the collapse of modern buildings, including a hospital and student hostel, that should have been earthquake-proof.

"People need to search their consciences," he said.

Local builders, however, said some of the damage would prove to be superficial.

"We are not killers," said builder Filiberto Cicchetti. "Ninety percent of private housing built outside the city walls from the '60s on is still viable ... The city will be reborn."

Locals were mystified as to why some houses were flattened while neighboring ones of the same period survived, or why the village of Onna was almost entirely destroyed, and its tiny population decimated, but Monticchio next door was untouched.

"It's as if the earthquake tried to avoid us," 45-year-old Amedeo Nardicchio said in Monticchio. "We were lucky."