Bulldozers work to clear out Italy's quake-hit towns
By VANESSA GERA and HAKAN KAPLAN, Associated Press
Aug 28, 2016 4:16 AM CDT
A painting hangs on a wall of the severely damaged church in the village of Santi Lorenzo e Flaviano, central Italy, Saturday, Aug. 27, 2016. Italians bid farewell Saturday to victims of the devastating earthquake that struck a mountainous region of central Italy this week. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)   (Associated Press)

AMATRICE, Italy (AP) — Bulldozers with huge claws and other heavy equipment clanked down the streets of Italy's quake-devastated town of Amatrice on Sunday, pulling down dangerously overhanging ledges and clearing rubble as investigators tried to figure out if negligence in enforcing building codes added to the high death toll.

Italy's state museums, meanwhile, embarked on a fundraising campaign, donating their proceeds Sunday to relief and reconstruction efforts in the earthquake zone.

In addition to killing 291 people and injuring hundreds, Wednesday's 6.2 magnitude quake flattened three medieval towns in central Italy, destroying not only private homes but also churches and other centuries-old cultural treasures. The idea is to use art for art — harnessing the nation's rich artistic heritage to help recover and restore other objects of beauty in the hard-hit towns.

Culture Minster Dario Franceschini had appealed to Italians to "go to museum in a sign of solidarity with people affected by the earthquake." On Twitter, the appeal came along with the hashtag #museums4italy.

It's one of several efforts that have sprung up to help the towns rebuild — restaurants in Italy and elsewhere are also serving up pasta Amatriciana, the region's most famous dish, in another fundraising effort.

Amatrice bore the brunt of destruction with 230 fatalities and a town turned to rubble. Eleven others died in nearby Accumoli and 50 more in Arquata del Tronto, 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of Amatrice.

Overnight was relatively calm, the first since the quake struck without strong aftershocks. In all, the region has seen 1,820 aftershocks, according to the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology.

On Saturday, mourners prayed, hugged, wept and even applauded as coffins carrying earthquake victims passed by at a state funeral in the town of Ascoli Piceno.

The caskets of 35 people had been brought to a community gym — one of the few structures in the area still intact. The local bishop, Giovanni D'Ercole, celebrated Mass beneath a crucifix he had retrieved from one of the damaged churches.

Emotions that had been dammed up for days broke in a crescendo of grief. One young man wept over a little girl's white coffin. Another woman gently stroked another small casket. Many mourners were recovering from injuries themselves, some wrapped in bandages. Everywhere people knelt at coffins, tears running down their cheeks, their arms around loved ones.

"It is a great tragedy. There are no words to describe it," said Gina Razzetti, a resident at the funeral. "Each one of us has our pain inside. We are thinking about the families who lost relatives, who lost their homes, who lost everything."

As all of Italy observed a day of national mourning, Bishop D'Ercole urged residents to rebuild their communities.

"Don't be afraid to cry out your suffering — I have seen a lot of this — but please do not lose courage," D'Ercole said. "Only together can we rebuild our houses and our churches."

Nobody has been found alive in the ruins since Wednesday, and hopes have vanished of finding any more survivors. The number still missing is uncertain, due to the many visitors seeking a last taste of summer in the Apennine mountains.

"The melancholy grabs on to your heart. You feel a sense of weakness, of depression," said Fiore Ciotto, another resident of Ascoli Piceno who attended the funeral.

President Sergio Mattarella arrived by helicopter Saturday and was shown the extent of the damage in Amatrice by its mayor, Sergio Pirozzi. The president thanked rescue workers who have been working around the clock.

Saturday's funeral involved most of the dead from Arquata del Tronto. As deep as their anguish was, the mourners at least had bodies to bury. Many of the dead from Amatrice are now awaiting identification in a refrigerated morgue in an airport hangar in Rieti, the provincial capital 65 kilometers (40 miles) away.

On Tuesday, a memorial service — without the bodies — will be held for the dead of Amatrice on the battered town's outskirts.

Hundreds of people have been left homeless by the quake, with many spending their nights in tent cities and a gym in Amatrice, where volunteers are working to provide basic services. Longer-term housing for earthquake survivors will be another key issue that Italian authorities need to address.

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Gera reported from Rome. Frances D'Emilio contributed reporting from Rieti.

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