Italy lays to rest its quake victims
Güncelleme Tarihi:
AP
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Nisan 11, 2009 00:00
L’AQUILA, ITALY - Quake-hit Italy mourns as thousands bade an emotional farewell on Good Friday to some 200 people killed in the earthquake that devastated the town of L'Aquila. ’This is the time to work together,’ says Pope Benedict XVI, urging survivors to keep up hope, as the death toll from Italy’s worst quake in three decades rises to 289 people
Sobbing mourners gazed at coffins adorned with mementos of the dead - a boy's toy motorcycle, a baby's blue T-shirt - as they bade farewell Friday to some 200 of Italy's quake victims at an open-air funeral Mass.
Pope Benedict XVI urged survivors to keep up hope in a message delivered on his behalf at the special Good Friday Mass. The 6.3-magnitude quake - Italy's worst in three decades, which killed 289 and left some 30,000 homeless - struck Monday at the start of Holy Week, heightening the sense of suffering in this deeply Roman Catholic country.
"This is the time to work together," the pope said in a message read by his secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein. "Only solidarity will allow us to overcome this painful trial."
Weeping mourners in the front row bowed their heads, their shoulders shaking as they sobbed. A few ran their fingers on the caskets neatly lined up on the vast military ground in the quake-stricken city of L'Aquila.
Cardinal, imam on same stage
Amid the rows of coffins, five small white caskets of the youngest victims rested on those of their parents. On them rested mementos of short lives: a boy's toy motorcycle and a baby's powder blue T-shirt with a Tweetie Bird design.
The Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, presided over the Good Friday funeral Mass for about 200 of the dead. An imam briefly took the stage to address the relatives of an unknown number of Muslim victims. He also offered encouragement to all the mourners, who quietly applauded when he finished speaking.
After the service ended, uniformed police officers and rescue workers, some in bright orange uniforms, slowly carried the wooden caskets from the military ground and loaded them into long, silver-colored hearses. Many were going directly to cemeteries for burial. Premier Silvio Berlusconi and other government officials were among the 10,000 people at the outdoor ceremony beneath Abruzzo's snowcapped mountains. The funeral was being held outdoors because none of the region's churches was stable enough for the ceremony.
Berlusconi comforted mourners, shaking hands and giving hugs. He told one young mourner kneeling before a relative's casket to "keep your chin up," according to the news agency ANSA. "How can one not be moved by so much pain?" he said, shortly before departing for L'Aquila for the funeral.
EARTHQUAKE DISASTER INITALY
VICTIMS:
w At least 289 dead, including 20 children and teens.
w More than 1,170 injured.
w Almost 30,000 homeless
DAMAGE:
w Between 10,000 to 15,000 buildings damaged or
destroyed.
RESCUE AND RELIEF:
w At least 110 people pulled alive from the rubble.
w 10,000 hotel beds made available for homeless.
w 31 tent camps set up to host up to 14,500 people.
w $132 million approved by Rome for emergency aid.
Pope Benedict XVI urged survivors to keep up hope in a message delivered on his behalf at the special Good Friday Mass. The 6.3-magnitude quake - Italy's worst in three decades, which killed 289 and left some 30,000 homeless - struck Monday at the start of Holy Week, heightening the sense of suffering in this deeply Roman Catholic country.
"This is the time to work together," the pope said in a message read by his secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein. "Only solidarity will allow us to overcome this painful trial."
Weeping mourners in the front row bowed their heads, their shoulders shaking as they sobbed. A few ran their fingers on the caskets neatly lined up on the vast military ground in the quake-stricken city of L'Aquila.
Cardinal, imam on same stage
Amid the rows of coffins, five small white caskets of the youngest victims rested on those of their parents. On them rested mementos of short lives: a boy's toy motorcycle and a baby's powder blue T-shirt with a Tweetie Bird design.
The Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, presided over the Good Friday funeral Mass for about 200 of the dead. An imam briefly took the stage to address the relatives of an unknown number of Muslim victims. He also offered encouragement to all the mourners, who quietly applauded when he finished speaking.
After the service ended, uniformed police officers and rescue workers, some in bright orange uniforms, slowly carried the wooden caskets from the military ground and loaded them into long, silver-colored hearses. Many were going directly to cemeteries for burial. Premier Silvio Berlusconi and other government officials were among the 10,000 people at the outdoor ceremony beneath Abruzzo's snowcapped mountains. The funeral was being held outdoors because none of the region's churches was stable enough for the ceremony.
Berlusconi comforted mourners, shaking hands and giving hugs. He told one young mourner kneeling before a relative's casket to "keep your chin up," according to the news agency ANSA. "How can one not be moved by so much pain?" he said, shortly before departing for L'Aquila for the funeral.
EARTHQUAKE DISASTER INITALY
VICTIMS:
w At least 289 dead, including 20 children and teens.
w More than 1,170 injured.
w Almost 30,000 homeless
DAMAGE:
w Between 10,000 to 15,000 buildings damaged or
destroyed.
RESCUE AND RELIEF:
w At least 110 people pulled alive from the rubble.
w 10,000 hotel beds made available for homeless.
w 31 tent camps set up to host up to 14,500 people.
w $132 million approved by Rome for emergency aid.