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Yesterday's earthquake in Italy also devastated the village of Castelnuovo, the community where my maternal great-grandfather emigrated from at the turn of the 20th century. According to a second cousin, the homestead is destroyed and several relatives have perished. Say a prayer for the poor people affected by this disaster the damage looks pretty bad.
What a terrible tragedy. :no: They have my thoughts.
It is never easy :(
The toll is now 228 but the problem with quakes is that you do not really know for at least a week and the resque attempts have to be slow and careful.
All the best to our neighbours and may this never happen again.
But it will that's the thing about earthquakes. They always happen again.
Thats the unfortunate thing about living in Mountainous places, or along Tectonic Plates. Earthquakes are one of those things we never really think about until after they happen. I remember as a kid we used to do earthquake drills almost once a week, and then it stopped for some reason. But there is still a very good chance of Major Earthquakes happening here, since we're only a stones throw away from the Yellowstone Supervolcano, which averages between 1000-3000 Earthquakes of a Magnitude 1.0-4.0.
A pity, it is noone's fault. It is the will of nature. My condolences to the famillies, and my sympathy for the Italians.
Very sad. Quite a high number of casualties. :embarassed:
Got to love Italy. It's cultural heritage is so large, that no matter where an earthquake or volcano strikes, it is sure to destroy some town, church or monument of imposing artistic and historical significance. ~:eek:
My prayers are with the families of those who are suffering. For the Church to relax the funerals on Good Friday rule, it simply must be horrific there.
Bit of a catch-22 for the involved in urban/civic planning.
Italy is rich in history and people live in apartments that have been apartments for centuries. We just don't have that same sense of "history" here. But those buildings simply cannot have been built to withstand major earthquakes (save by luck) because our knowledge of how earthquakes work is so new.
On the other hand, I'm sure the cost of retrofitting all of the historic buildings etc. -- even where possible -- would be ruinous.
Being a cynic, I would guess that we'll see a committee which will file a report recommending significant improvements in x, y, and z but that funding and public interest will want before more than part of x is completed.
I really do feel for those who are affected by this. My best wishes are with them.
Can't we just sticky a thread at the top for people that want to pass on their sincere and passing sympathies to another area of the globe who'se numbers have just taken a plunge, and who are overwrought at the papers highlighting this one disaster as opposed to all the others?
Truly they have my thoughts...
~:smoking: