Norcia, Italy: Residents of a mountainous region of central Italy displaced by a series of powerful earthquakes resisted being relocated Monday and appealed for campers and tents so they could remain close to their homes and businesses.
The latest quake, on Sunday morning - magnitude 6.6, the strongest to hit Italy in 36 years - caused no deaths or serious injuries, largely because vulnerable city centers were already closed and many homes were vacant due to previous quakes.
But the quake complicated relief efforts in a zone still coping with the aftermath of an August earthquake that killed nearly 300 and a pair of damaging aftershocks last week.
Civil protection officials said the number of people needing housing has risen by 15,000 since Wednesday, a figure that does not include the 2,000 displaced by the August quake.
Although thousands of people have been moved to coastal regions out of harm’s way, in a growing number of quake-stricken communities they are insisting on staying put because they have businesses to tend to, not infrequently involving livestock, or think that if their homes are still standing they remain the safest places to be.
On Monday, about 20 people remained in the hilltop town of Castelluccio. Aerial video shot by firefighters shows it was all but razed on Sunday.
The town is famous for its lentils and its spectacular wildflowers, and the residents who stayed behind include farmers and shepherds sharing a camper, according to the news agency ANSA.
"This town is dead and buried," Adorno Pignatelli told ANSA. "But we will continue to grow flowers because we won’t let it die definitively."
The head of the Coldiretti farm lobby in Macerata province, Francesco Fucilli, said many livestock owners had suffered both damaged barns and homes. They cannot relocate to shelters because they need to stay near their animals at night, Fucilli said, and are appealing for campers, containers, or other temporary structures that would allow them to shelter in place.
"This is a very dramatic situation," Fucilli told The Associated Press. "Our livestock breeders cannot move, especially at night. They need to be near their animals to sleep, to look after them and protect them from wild animals."
Wolves in the area are a problem for sheep. For now, cows remain at pasture, but will need to have their barns rebuilt before freezes begin in a few weeks, he said.
Civil protection officials said they expect the number of people needing assistance to continue to rise, as it doesn’t count the many people who were sleeping in vehicles or had made other arrangements before the latest earthquake.
Temperatures overnight reached near freezing, and officials have expressed concern for the many elderly residents of the mountain communities.
"We cannot have tents for some months in the mountains, under the snow," Premier Matteo Renzi wrote in a message on Monday. "There are enough hotels for everyone. But many of our compatriots don’t want to leave their lands, not even for some weeks."
Civil protection authorities have urged people to move out of the quake zone, citing the difficulty of putting up tent cities in the mountainous region and the onset of winter. Many people have been moved to coastal areas, where summer resort hotels are mostly idle, and other zones away from the hardest-hit areas.
The mayor of Preci, a town of some 700 residents southeast of Perugia in Umbria, appealed to the authorities to send campers, tents or containers, saying people did not want to leave their homes and businesses. He said up to 400 people preferred to brave the cold in tents rather than move.
In the town of Norcia, closest to the epicenter, firefighters were taking people back to their homes early Monday to retrieve belongings. Small groups were taken in and were given helmets as protection.
The ground continued to shake overnight, with at least two jolts above magnitude 4.
The latest quake, on Sunday morning - magnitude 6.6, the strongest to hit Italy in 36 years - caused no deaths or serious injuries, largely because vulnerable city centers were already closed and many homes were vacant due to previous quakes.
But the quake complicated relief efforts in a zone still coping with the aftermath of an August earthquake that killed nearly 300 and a pair of damaging aftershocks last week.
Civil protection officials said the number of people needing housing has risen by 15,000 since Wednesday, a figure that does not include the 2,000 displaced by the August quake.
Although thousands of people have been moved to coastal regions out of harm’s way, in a growing number of quake-stricken communities they are insisting on staying put because they have businesses to tend to, not infrequently involving livestock, or think that if their homes are still standing they remain the safest places to be.
On Monday, about 20 people remained in the hilltop town of Castelluccio. Aerial video shot by firefighters shows it was all but razed on Sunday.
The town is famous for its lentils and its spectacular wildflowers, and the residents who stayed behind include farmers and shepherds sharing a camper, according to the news agency ANSA.
"This town is dead and buried," Adorno Pignatelli told ANSA. "But we will continue to grow flowers because we won’t let it die definitively."
The head of the Coldiretti farm lobby in Macerata province, Francesco Fucilli, said many livestock owners had suffered both damaged barns and homes. They cannot relocate to shelters because they need to stay near their animals at night, Fucilli said, and are appealing for campers, containers, or other temporary structures that would allow them to shelter in place.
"This is a very dramatic situation," Fucilli told The Associated Press. "Our livestock breeders cannot move, especially at night. They need to be near their animals to sleep, to look after them and protect them from wild animals."
Wolves in the area are a problem for sheep. For now, cows remain at pasture, but will need to have their barns rebuilt before freezes begin in a few weeks, he said.
Civil protection officials said they expect the number of people needing assistance to continue to rise, as it doesn’t count the many people who were sleeping in vehicles or had made other arrangements before the latest earthquake.
Temperatures overnight reached near freezing, and officials have expressed concern for the many elderly residents of the mountain communities.
"We cannot have tents for some months in the mountains, under the snow," Premier Matteo Renzi wrote in a message on Monday. "There are enough hotels for everyone. But many of our compatriots don’t want to leave their lands, not even for some weeks."
Civil protection authorities have urged people to move out of the quake zone, citing the difficulty of putting up tent cities in the mountainous region and the onset of winter. Many people have been moved to coastal areas, where summer resort hotels are mostly idle, and other zones away from the hardest-hit areas.
The mayor of Preci, a town of some 700 residents southeast of Perugia in Umbria, appealed to the authorities to send campers, tents or containers, saying people did not want to leave their homes and businesses. He said up to 400 people preferred to brave the cold in tents rather than move.
In the town of Norcia, closest to the epicenter, firefighters were taking people back to their homes early Monday to retrieve belongings. Small groups were taken in and were given helmets as protection.
The ground continued to shake overnight, with at least two jolts above magnitude 4.