Pope visits Italian quake zone

Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday visited two towns hit hard by the recent earthquake in central Italy, meeting with survivors and offering prayers. The pope flew by helicopter from Vatican City to a tent camp near the village of Onna, where he led a prayer for the hundreds killed in the April 6 quake. The camp houses hundreds of families left homeless when the magnitude-6.3 quake destroyed their homes

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Apparent sign of life, four days after Italy quake

Rescue workers believe they may have located an earthquake survivor on Friday, four days after the quake struck the region and killed 287 people, representatives of the L’Aquila fire department said Friday. They are trying to extract the person — who has shown signs of breathing — from underneath the rubble, and that will take some time, they said

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Quake survivors: What about our future?

Many survivors from the earthquake which has devastated central Italy have found themselves homeless, terrified — and wondering what the future now holds. Aftershocks have continued to strike following Monday’s 6.3-magnitude quake, in the mountainous Abruzzo region surrounding the city of L’Aquila. The most severe, a 5.6 magnitude tremor that struck the area Tuesday night, according to the U.S.

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Aftershocks rattle quake rescue efforts

The arduous work of combing through rubble and treating the wounded of this medieval city continued into the early hours of Wednesday morning, even as the death toll from the powerful earthquake that rocked the area continued to climb. By late Tuesday night, 235 people had been confirmed dead, according to the Italian Civil Protection Agency, which was helping with recovery efforts in L’Aquila, about 120 km (75 miles) northeast of Rome.

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