国际英语新闻：Strong aftershock felt as Italy's rescue operation enters second day

ROME, April 7 (Xinhua) -- A strong aftershock with a magnitude of 5.5 to 5.7 on the MMS scale was felt in Italy's Abruzzo region as rescue operations entered into the second day on Tuesday. While death toll rose to more than 200.

Italian Primier Silvio Berlusconi called for national solidarity "to face the situation by ourselves."

    Local media confirmed that the aftershock in the evening damaged an ancient-time church and many houses partly damaged by Monday's main earthquake totally destroyed.

Three people cover themselves with a blanket as they take a rest in L'aquila, Italy, early April 7, 2009. The strong earthquake that hit central Italy on Monday has killed at least 179 people, injured some 1,500 and left around 70,000 homeless, Italian media reported on Tuesday.

    Earlier in the day, Berlusconi said the danger is not over yet. "There can be other small earthquakes in coming days, so it is better that people do not return home," he told local residents.

    "The victims so far are 207," Berlusconi told a press conference earlier in the day in L'Aquila when visiting the towns hit by Monday's earthquake.

    "Of these victims, 190 have been identified while other 17 remain unidentified, 15 people are missing and there are more than1,000 injured, 100 of which are in serious conditions," he said.

    "Civil protection men are working hard and for the next 48 hours rescuers will search for other survivors," said Berlusconi.

    "More than 7,000 men are at work," he said. "These people risk their lives and I want to congratulate myself with them, they are doing an extraordinary job considering the frequent ground movements complicate rescuing operations."

    "Already 150 people have been extracted and saved from the ruins," he added.

    "In this hard moment we must all react with facts and actions. Rescue teams are saving everyone, no one will be left alone and this is the most important thing," he said.

    At the press briefing, Berlusconi also said "there are no problems regarding financial aid. The government has already activated the natural calamities' fund to face housing reconstruction and survivors' needs.

    "We must do all we can to guarantee a rapid help to those that are still under the ruins of the buildings. Rescue efforts are constant and must never cease, our men are using optic fiber video-cameras to search underground," he said.

    Talking about the progress of rescue work, Berlusconi said "1,000 firemen and 4,000 rescuers are being employed" in the areas hit by the earthquake.

People rest outdoors after an earthquake caused the collapse of St. Salvatore Hospital in Aquila April 6, 2009. A powerful earthquake struck a swathe of central Italy as residents slept on Monday morning, killing more than 179 people and flattening whole towns

He also said "the first' new town', envisaged in the national housing plan, will soon be constructed near L'Aquila" to host families that have lost their houses in the tremor. There will be a great contribution from the private building sector as well, he added.

    Regarding entrepreneurs who have lost their job, the premier said the "government will include in the unemployment benefits' reform financial help for Abruzzo's businessmen whose economic activities have been destroyed."

    The problem of listing damaged cultural monuments will be faced in a second moment. "People come first, this is our slogan," said Berlusconi. "Only then we will think of reconstructing Abruzzo's national heritage."

    In the other developments, rescuers on Tuesday officially called a halt to the rescue operation in Onna, the small town nearL'Aquila which was worst hit in Monday's earthquake.

    Forty people died from a population of 350 in the town, which is situated 10 kilometers from the Abruzzo capital of L'Aquila.

    Firemen said they would now concentrate on removing rubble and securing buildings in the remains of Onna, where plaster continued to crumble as aftershocks continued on Tuesday.

    Earlier in the day, the civil protection department said inspections of homes and public buildings damaged in Monday's earthquake will begin on Wednesday and residents will be allowed back to their homes if they are found to be safe. Natale Mazzei of the department's emergency office said over 200 teams of experts would be conducting the inspections.

    Also on Tuesday, Vincenzo Ferrini, head of earth science at Rome's La Sapienza University, said Rome is largely protected from earthquakes with their epicenter in the neighboring region of Abruzzo thanks to its bedrock of sedimentary tuff rock.

    "In and around Rome the ground is less favorable to the transfer of seismic waves because the area rests on volcanic tuff and not on calcareous rock," he said.

    "We can be relatively unworried," he said. However, had the earthquake's epicenter been 50 km rather than 100 km from Rome, Ferrini said the damage to the capital would have been significantly greater, although "not completely destructive."

    "Cupolas could have fallen and there could have been damage to the Colosseum," he said. Ferrini said that aftershocks from Monday's main quake 100 kilometers away in Abruzzo would likely continue to make themselves felt in Rome.

    "For that reason we need to watch out for falling cornices and plaster, which has happened in rare cases in the last few hours," he said.

    Several buildings in Rome were evacuated as a precaution on Tuesday after a strong aftershock registering 4.7 on the MMS scale was felt in the capital.

    Monday's main earthquake, which registered 6.2 on the MMS scale, was clearly felt in Rome.