Italian school tragedy

Halloween celebrations at an Italian village school ended in tragedy when a powerful earthquake brought down the roof on pupils and teachers inside. An earthquake struck the town of San Giuliano di Puglia in Italy this morning. The quake measured 5.9 on the Richter scale. It was centered 70 miles northeast of Naples and 40 miles west of Foggia.

Sixty-two people – all students except for four teachers and two janitors – were at sschool the quake struck at 11.30 a.m. local time. School was the only building to collapse, when other buildings were only cracked or damaged structurally. In all, 19 children aged between 6 and 10 years old – were confirmed killed, as one man and one woman elsewhere in the village. About 100 people were admitted to the hospital in Termoli, and 35 were being treated in Larino. Rescue workers have managed to pluck 37 children from the collapsed school using ccranes, blow torches and their bare hands. Crews had hard time getting to the children at first because a bridge collapsed. More than 325 fire-fighters responded in hard-hit region northeast of Campobasso.

The government will give money to the town tto help pay for rebuilding and repairing the houses which the earthquake has damage d or destroyed. Townspeople said they wondered why the school was the only building to collapse when other buildings were only cracked or structurally damaged. They say that the construction was likely to have been a “botched job”.