04/10/2009

National Day of Mourning

Italy Holds State Funeral for Earthquake Victims

Italy is paying tribute to the victims of Monday's earthquake with a national day of mourning Friday. Around 200 of the dead are being buried at a state funeral attended by Silvio Berlusconi.

Italy paid tribute to the victims of Monday's earthquake with a special funeral mass Friday. Around 10,000 people attended the ceremony, which was held at a police academy in L'Aquila. The funeral was held outdoors because none of the local churches was deemed stable enough for the ceremony.

The Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, presided over the funeral mass for around 200 of the victims. Some of the dead have already been privately buried. Almost 300 people died when the quake hit the central Italian region of Abruzzo in the early hours of Monday morning, devastating L'Aquila, the region's capital, as well as surrounding villages and towns.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and other high-ranking officials attended the funeral. "We thank the people of Abruzzo for their seriousness, civility, dignity and composure," Berlusconi said. "Today we pay homage to their dead, who are our dead."

Pope Benedict XVI is due to visit the earthquake region after Easter. In a message read out by his personal secretary, he urged survivors to not lose hope. "This is the time to work together," the message said. "Only solidarity will allow us to overcome this painful trial."

An imam paid tribute to six Muslim victims of the earthquake in a speech at the funeral.

A Day of Mourning, and a Special Mass

Friday was declared a national day of mourning in Italy. Flags flew at half mast across the country and many stores were closed for the duration of the service. Permission had to be obtained from the Vatican to hold the mass on Good Friday, which is the only day of the year when the Catholic Church does not celebrate mass.

Another aftershock hit central Italy on Thursday evening, measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale, and a four-story building in L'Aquila collapsed. The minute-long rattle sent fear through the emergency campsites, where about 17,000 people made homeless by the quake are being accommodated.

In a phone conversation with his Italian counterpart Franco Frattini, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier promised German support for the reconstruction of Onna, a village that was particularly hard hit by the earthquake. The German government offered to help with rebuilding the village church as a gesture of solidarity and sympathy, the Foreign Ministry in Berlin said in a statement Friday.

Meanwhile Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, who visited L'Aquila and Onna Thursday, has said that poor construction was to blame for many of the fatalities. "People need to examine their consciences," he said, calling for an investigation into why proper construction standards had not been applied.

The death toll has now risen to 287, Italian officials said Friday. Around 1,170 people were injured, 179 of them seriously, and up to 30 people are still missing. Some 10,000 buildings were destroyed and around 28,000 people are homeless.

dgs -- with wire reports

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