Today it’s the day of the 289 victims’ funeral. Today it’s the day of
the farewell. Today Italy weeps after its dead. Today I feel much worse
than the last days. Watching the funeral it has been devastating, the
hundreds coffins in line, the solemn sacred music of the religious funeral,
the smaller white coffins of the children with toys on the top, placed on
the bigger brown ones of the parents. The thousands families and friends
crying silently behind. The youngest was only 5 months old. More than 5,000
people participated in the funeral, the 12,000 rescuer were present, all
the most State authorities were present, foreign ambassadors were also
present. The Italian flags will be held at half staff for the whole day.
Today it?s an heartbreaking day, and I and all Italians are mourning.
(I suggest to read the article on your New York Times, it’s well written
and tells everything of this day.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/11/world/europe/11italy.html?_r=1&hp)
And in the meanwhile population is scared, as violent tremors are shaking
Abruzzo and the surrounding regions (Lazio, Marche, Umbria e Molise)
continuously and are damaging buildings here and terrifying about 17,000
people living in tent villages. Many left their home last night. People in
Abruzzo, Marche, Umbria and Lazio (Rome).
I’m asking myself, what it’s happening, as seismologists say that these
only constitute the beginning of a series of violent quakes, which will be
continuing during the next years in this Apennine area. SO we can expect
everything at every time.
Such devastation and loss. My heart just weeps for these people.
Powerful pictures…makes me fight back tears. All of those coffins shows the cruelty of this earthquake and as Ylenia said, the tremors just keep coming. I read the NY Times article that Ylenia provided a link to; one woman said “I want to go away,” Mrs. Abate said. “I want to leave Italy.” So much pain and what are people suppose to do when “the seismologists say that these only constitute the beginning of a series of violent quakes, which will be continuing during the next years in this Apennine area.” Should everyone leave; how many can even afford to leave.
Thankyou Ylenia for keeping us posted with the news and for sharing your feelings and emotions. You and all of the people hit by this earhtquake shall remain in my thoughts and prayers.
(Thankyou Ann for continuing to share Ylenia’s postings.)
Ylenia,
Thank you for sharing with us through this difficult time. I wish there was more we could do for you from half way around the world. We’re all mourning with the people of Italy. It’s so sad. We’ll keep you in our prayers.
There are no words adequate to describe the horror and sadness of this situation, and especially today’s devastating ceremony. I can not even begin to imagine how you, Ylenia, and everyone else affected by these deaths must be buffeted by the emotions evoked by such a massive funeral.
You and your fellow citizens are in my thoughts. Thank you, Ann, for providing Ylenia such a safe and sympathetic site for her to post her feelings and thoughts.
I wish safety and peace of mind for you, Ylenia.
Happy Easter!
And thinking about these seismologists who first did not alert anybody because ‘earthquakes cannot be predicted’, then they get teed off at the one without the proper credentials who did predict, and now they engage in predicting anyway and without any plan one, plan two, plan three till things settle. The stress of the thought is already weakening all.
Also, I looked in Picasa Web Albums and there are some lovely photos of the towns that Ylenia writes about and that is a beautiful country indeed. President Obama, I read, has offered help to rebuild the old structures, churches, monuments… and I wonder who is thinking about retrofitting!! because otherwise is not going to work for long.
Lupe
I have to say that they (the rescue people) seem very organized, and matter of fact about these events.
Lupe
Its just incredible that anyone could survive such devastation. We will continue to hold you and yours in our thoughts and prayers. Buona Pasqua Ylenia. Auguro ogni bene a Lei e alla Sua famiglia
As I watched the news this morning of the funeral coverage my thoughts were of you and all your village Ylenia and the heartbreak you must all be feeling.Not enough words can make up for such loss.Your openess through these past few days shows us all how strong you all are.Prayers and thoughts to all
This is so frightening and sad. Ylenia, you and everyone experiencing this are in my prayers.
Dearest Ylenia, I was more touched by this sad and beautifully written post than any of your others. I will have to learn some Italian words for you, Ylenia, words of sympathy and shared sorrow. I hope you and your family and friends have a safe weekend and can keep each other’s spirits up.. xxoo
Ylenia, again, so sorry to hear about all of this. I know everyone here on this blog shares sympathy for you and everyone in Italy. I hope things can get a little better soon. Thank you for your posts.
Ylenia,
So sorry.
Sandy
Dear Ylenia,
I will keep you and yours in my prayers.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
I didn’t mean to post again about the earthquake, but yesterday it was the day of the farewell, and I felt I had to.
I’m really grateful to each of you, it’s not true that words are not enough. In such a situation nice words make more than silence or indifference. I’m sure that you all are behind us.
Yes, we don’t know what expecting, they said first they couldn’t predict quakes and now they say that. But tremors are still coming, and yesterday during dinner there was another one and the chandelier shook. The day before yesterday they counted 180 tremors in this area. So this one, we are living, is an abnormal phenomenon. Hope everything will evolve for the best and that nobody else will lose his/her life.
Thanks Mary for the well written Italian wishes. It was perfect and correct! Thanks Jane and Elizabeth for your long and nice comments, now and on the other entries. Thanks dear Kim, Lupe, Angela, Cheryl from Canada and Cindy. And all the others who posted during these last days. I always see your written names and cannot imagine you faces.
And finally thank you Ann for being such a friendly and kindhearted person and for sharing my comments. It would be nice if you would learn some Italian, it’s not so difficult as they say.
Now we will try to go on without forgetting and with a different heart.
I wish you all a Happy Easter with your families and friends.
Buona Pasqua a tutti e tanta serenità e salute!
Buona Pasqua a tutti!
Happy Easter to everyone!
Ylenia,
I apologize that I haven’t commented before now. I caught up on all of your postings and am so sorry for all that you’ve been through. I can’t imagine what it’s been like for your family, friends, neighbors and fellow Italians. I was fortunate to visit Italy a few years back and it is such a beautiful country. It is terrible to see the devastation. I hope you’re somehow able to have a happy Easter and that there are brighter days ahead.
Dear all:
Hagia Sophia
Architecturally the grand basilica represented a major revolution in church construction in that it featured a huge dome which necessitated the implementation of new ideas in order to support the weight of this dome, a feat which had not been attempted before. The dome which became universal in Byzantine church construction represented the vault of heaven thus constituting a feature quasi-liturgical in function. In the days when there was no steel used in construction, large roofs and domes had to be supported by massive pillars and walls. The dome of Hagia Sophia was supported by four piers (the solid supports from which the arches spring), each measuring about 118 square yards at the base. Four arches swing across linked by four pendentives (the parts of a groined ceiling springing from the pillars). The apices of the arches and the pendentives support the circular base from which rises the dome which is pierced by forty single-arched windows which admit light to the interior.
Got it from here http://www.byzantines.net/epiphany/hagiasophia.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia
It was rebuilt 3 x because? earthquakes or war or the dome would fall down..
Today we need to think of ways into the earth
http://earthquakesafety.com/retrofitting/seismic_retrofitting.html
Early today a 28 year old part time teacher was arrested on the abduction and murder of the little girl from Tracy, California..
Ylenia, if you want pictures we could send some to Ann.. no?
Lupe
Dearest Ylenia,
Many prayers and good wishes are being sent across the globe to you and your loved ones and country. Even when it seems fruitless, Hold strong to your faith.
In the local paper today, there was coverage on the hundreds of displaced pets that are roaming the streets now – looking for their owners. The Humane Societies were taking in food and supplies to help.
Where does one start in understanding any of this?
God Bless You
Dear Ylenia, you and your family are in my family’s prayers. Thank you for sharing information, painful as it may be for all of us to read. Thank you Ann for having a site and blog that creates intelligent and caring interaction. It truly is a wonderful thing to be part of a world that is so far apart and yet we are only a keystroke away.
I have a good news among the bad ones. Yesterday lots of restaurants’ owners and famous cooks went to the tent villages to prepare Easter lunch for everyone with lots of special meals and in abundance. And children received lots of toys arrived with huge trucks sent by actors and TV series directors. And important patisseries from northern Italy sent huge chocolates eggs (in Italy we don’t have chocolate rabbits, but chocolate eggs with surprises inside), which were brought on trucks’ wagons. And pediatrician and psychologists with clown dresses on, played and assisted the children! They are doing their best to assist this victim’s disaster! And this is a good news for sure!
Now the government will do its best to rebuild houses, but this time all the anti-seismic laws will be respected. You know that illegal materials were used to build those collapsed buildings? Experts analyzed the rubble and in the concrete was found only a small part of cement, under the legal percentage, so that it was not enough to attach the bricks each other and the building collapsed too easily. And all the documents regarding the construction of these buildings vanished suddenly. Who knows why and who made that? There are investigations in course. And because of some idiot at the top hundreds of people died.
Thanks all the other who posted and prayed for me and those people. I feel a little better now. God bless you!
Yelina the news actually reported alot in Canada about the poor construction on those buildings,perhaps some good will come out of this and they will not be built that way any more.They should put in inspection codes and make sure they are all being followed.As always it may be to little but if it can save lives in the future it won’t be to late.Peace to all and
Dear Ylenia,
Our hearts go out to you and your countrymen. It’s so sad. Thanks to you and Ann for keeping us abreast.
Love,
Lisa
Ylenia:
It was wonderful to read your post concerning the effort put in by restaurant owners and cooks to provide an Easter dinner for so many people. And the toys and the patisseries and the skits must have brought smiles to faces and eased the burden of grief and desperation for a time. Thanks for sharing this news with us.
Unfortunately, the fact that substandard materials were used to build the houses and buildings which were destroyed in the earthquake doesn’t surprise me. Isn’t it awful that so many of us are no longer shocked when we learn that a huge number of people have died for no reason other than greed, selfishness, and a lack of empathy? When exactly did trust and belief become so easy to damage?
I hope today finds you feeling some peace of mind and security, Ylenia. Thank you for keeping us here on Ann’s blog apprised of your ever-changing conditions.