AMATRICE, Italy (AP) — Construction crews worked through the rain in Italy's earthquake zone to build a tent complex to host a state funeral Tuesday, as prosecutors took preliminary measures to sequester buildings that crumbled despite being renovated with public anti-seismic funds.

The evening Mass in the hard-hit town of Amatrice for dozens of the 292 people killed is the second state funeral for victims of the Aug. 24 temblor that flattened three towns in central Italy. The first, held Saturday, honored victims from the Le Marche region. Tuesday's funeral is for victims in neighboring Lazio, which includes Amatrice.

The service, on the outskirts of Amatrice's obliterated medieval center on the grounds of a Catholic home for the elderly, comes as Italy observed a second day of national mourning.

Crews using bulldozers and steamrollers worked through the night to erect a huge, open-sided tented roof to shelter the altar and the seating area. Civil protection officials said only 37 caskets would be on hand, since many families opted for private funerals elsewhere.

Firefighters on Tuesday placed the caskets in rows, two little white caskets sandwiched between larger ones — evidence of the many children enjoying the final days of summer who were killed. Relatives placed bouquets on the caskets and sat next to them quietly.

Initially, authorities planned to hold the funeral in an airport hangar in the provincial capital of Rieti, 65 kilometers (40 miles) away, citing safety and organizational concerns. The quake area has seen more than 2,500 aftershocks and faces logistical problems in bringing relatives and officials into a town with only one serviceable access road.

But grieving residents rebelled at plans to let them watch it on TV or be bussed to Rieti, where many bodies were being housed in a makeshift morgue at the airport. Premier Matteo Renzi reversed course late Monday.

Some 231 quake victims were found in Amatrice and 11 more in nearby Accumoli. The bodies of as many as 10 people, including Amatrice's baker, are believed still buried in the rubble. Fifty people were killed in Le Marche.

Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos planned to attended the state funeral, since 11 of the dead were Romanians. Some 8,000 to 10,000 Romanians live in the quake zone, many working in agriculture or as caregivers.

Italian prosecutors, meanwhile, took the first steps to investigate if construction firms or any others bore any responsibility for buildings that collapsed in the quake.

The ANSA news agency said Rieti chief prosecutor Giuseppe Saieva ordered Amatrice's collapsed elementary school to be sequestered and entrusted Italy's financial police with investigating how public funds destined for anti-seismic renovations across the region were used.

The school collapsed during the quake despite being renovated in 2012 using earthquake funds. In addition, the church tower in nearby Accumoli collapsed on a home, killing a family of four, despite also having been recently renovated with earthquake funds.

Saieva is investigating what was stipulated in the contracts to restore the buildings and what exactly was done.

"First we must obtain all the documents from the contract and bidding processes, through to the inspections," Saieva told the Il Messaggero daily on Tuesday. "Only then can we know what the responsibilities were of all those involved."

For those who survived, Tuesday's funeral is only one step in tackling a long-term trauma.

"They're living through a blackout," said Letizia Bellabarba, a social worker who is tending to survivors. "I mean, in 20 seconds — that's how long the earthquake lasted — in 20 seconds their life changed. So they are disoriented, because they feel they were left without a future."

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Winfield reported from Rome.

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This version removes erroneous reference to magnitude of 4.2.