Earthquake in Abruzzo, Italy.

Yesterday at in the early hours of the morning, an Earthquake struck the region of Abruzzo. It's Epicenter being L'Aquila (the region's capital) in the north of the region. This is kinda awkward for me since this is the region I originally come from, as do Half my family, specifically the "lago di Fucino" area around 30-40 miles to the south.

Over the course of the last couple of decades all my relatives there have upped and left for Rome and its surrounding areas around 60 miles to the west. My Uncle (also now in Rome) said several paintings in his appartment were shaken off the walls. Some family friends that stay in the Lago di fucino area say that all their buildings are still standing, but furniture had been all over the place. They've all taken to staying in their cars because they fear their homes have been severely structurally weakened. There are still quite a few aftershocks around 4.5 - 5 that are hitting the area still.

However as stated it was L'aquila that was worst hit. Italian President Sylvio Berlusconi has declared a state of emergency as the City is now constantly crumbling, hindering rescue and salvage attempts, the quake has also collapsed several "autostrade" (translation = Freeway/motorway) routes into and out of the city. This was one of the first TV images to come from there, showing a Students halls of residence reduced to rubble, don't think they had any chance :(


however through Digg I foudn out that someone was able to fortell of the upcoming quake and was reported to authorities for "spreading alarm", and was ordered to remove his findings from the internet. @>:-(

Dunno what recent experience many of you coastal Californians have had with Nearby San Andreas, do you get regular tremors major or minor these days? =/

EDIT: just come across this Flickr set from a local in the area, that should give a better idea to everyone