{"id":40209,"date":"2016-10-31T13:28:09","date_gmt":"2016-10-31T11:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/site\/?p=40209"},"modified":"2016-10-31T13:28:09","modified_gmt":"2016-10-31T11:28:09","slug":"%d8%aa%d8%b9%d8%b1%d8%b6-%d9%83%d9%86%d8%a7%d8%a6%d8%b3-%d8%a5%d9%8a%d8%b7%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d8%aa%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%ae%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d9%84%d9%84%d8%af%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%b1-%d8%b9%d9%82%d8%a8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/%d8%aa%d8%b9%d8%b1%d8%b6-%d9%83%d9%86%d8%a7%d8%a6%d8%b3-%d8%a5%d9%8a%d8%b7%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d8%aa%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%ae%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d9%84%d9%84%d8%af%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%b1-%d8%b9%d9%82%d8%a8\/","title":{"rendered":"Norcia 6.6 earthquake devastates historic churches"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The ancient town of Norcia in central Italy is in ruins following the powerful earthquake which knocked its historical 13th century Basilica of St Benedict and other buildings to the ground.<\/span>
\nSunday\u2019s earthquake was the latest in a series of seismic events to strike central Italy, and comes just two months after another violent earthquake hit the same area of central and southern Italy, killing 300 people and destroying several towns.<\/span>
\nThere was widespread devastation, with many buildings, already compromised by earlier quakes, suffering severe damage.<\/span>
\nMany of the town\u2019s residents had been evacuated after quakes on Wednesday, meaning they avoided the worst of the damage. The Civil Protection agency reported several injuries but no fatalities.<\/span>
\nAuthorities say it\u2019s the strongest quake to hit the country since the Irpinia earthquake which killed more than 2,500 people in southern Italy in November 1980, with reports that the tremors were felt in the capital Rome, and as far away as Venice in the north.<\/span>
\nThe Basilica of St Benedict had survived the August shock but the force of this quake proved too powerful, causing the church to collapse.<\/span>
\nThe Monks of Norcia, who cared for the church built atop St Benedict\u2019s birthplace, issued a statement confirming the basilica\u2019s destruction. The statement also reassured the public that the monks are all safe despite the devastation.<\/span>
\nThey also warned, however, that some buildings were on the brink of collapse.<\/span>
\nThe American monks brew their own beer and urged people to buy the beverage to help fund the recovery in the aftermath of the August quake.<\/span>
\nPhotos and videos have been released showing the monks and nuns standing in solidarity with locals turning to prayer after the disaster. Priests in the Umbria region have been told by Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti to hold masses outside for fear of building collapses, according to AP.<\/span>
\nNews of the basilica\u2019s destruction has left many heartbroken.<\/span>
\nAnother earthquake hits Italy. 6.6 I am heartbroken that the Basilica of St. Benedict in Norcia was completely destroyed. I pray for all <\/span>
\nThe cathedral of Saint Maria Silver and the town hall are also reported to have been damaged according to Ansa. <\/span>
\nSan Francesco Church in Norcia also appears to have been devastated by the quake.<\/span>
\nMeanwhile, the Basilica of St Paul in Rome has been closed for further inspection due to fallen rubble and cracks in the building from the shock.<\/span>
\nRadio Vatican reports that Pope Francis prayed for the victims, \u201cI pray for the wounded and the families that have suffered major damage; as well as for the personnel.\u201d<\/span>
\nOther small towns are also reeling from the shock. The Mayor of Arquata del Tronto Aleandro Petrucci said: \u201cThere are no towns left. Everything came down.”<\/span>
\n“This morning’s quake has hit the few things that were left standing. We will have to start from scratch,” Michele Franchi, the deputy mayor of Arquata del Tronto, told RAI TV.<\/span>
\nThe Mayor of Ussita, Marco Rinaldi said:\u201cI slept in the car, I saw hell.\u201d<\/span>
\nThe government revealed an initial allocation of \u20ac40 million to deal with the aftermath of the quake on top of the money committed to the August quake relief efforts, according to Ansa.<\/span>
\nItalian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has pledged to rebuild all homes and churches destroyed in Sunday’s quake, Reuters reported.<\/span>
\n“We will rebuild everything, the houses, the churches and the businesses,” Renzi said. “Everything that needs to be done to rebuild these areas will be done.”<\/span><\/h2>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ancient town of Norcia in central Italy is in ruins following the powerful earthquake which knocked its historical 13th century Basilica of St Benedict and other buildings to the ground. Sunday\u2019s earthquake was the latest in a series of seismic events to strike central Italy, and comes just two months after another violent earthquake […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":40210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,74],"tags":[6815,6817,6818,6819,6816,6814,1411,6810,6813,6811,6812],"class_list":["post-40209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-74","tag-6-","tag-6-6-earthquake","tag-devastates","tag-historic-churches","tag-norcia","tag-6814","tag-1411","tag-6810","tag-6813","tag-6811","tag-6812"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40209"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40209"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40212,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40209\/revisions\/40212"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}