Earthquake
ShelterBox is sending a team to Italy following a 6.2 magnitude earthquake near Perugia.
The earthquake struck at 1:36 am GMT near the north-eastern Italian city of Perugia, killing at least 120 people, with an unknown number trapped beneath rubble in several other villages. This was a shallow quake in a mountainous area, with tremors felt as far away as Rome.
Since the initial quake shook central Italy early Wednesday morning, between 40 and 60 reported aftershocks have been reported. One woman, from a town hit by the earthquake spoke to the CBC and said that "everything is destroyed, there is no town anymore". The damage and death toll is expected to rise as rescue workers continue to dig through the rubble.
Accumoli Mayor Stefano Petrucci estimates more than 2,500 people in the town have been displaced. He said, "Now that daylight has come, we see that the situation is ever more dreadful than we feared with buildings collapsed, people trapped under the rubble and no sound of life."
A ShelterBox team has been assembled, trained in humanitarian response to make an initial assessment. They're already on their way to the remote mountainous area of Italy, southeast of the town of Perugia. Partner disaster relief organizations, including the Red Cross, have also assisted with assessments. With stock held across several European sites, we'll be able to react speedily if families are left without shelter.
In recent years ShelterBox has deployed to Italian earthquakes twice. In 2012 we supplied 132 tents following a 6.0 quake and in 2009 in Abruzzo when over 300 people died in a 6.3 quake ShelterBox deployed 294 ShelterBoxes.
We are impatient to see a world where no family is left without shelter when disaster strikes.
This determination is felt from our supporters all over the world. With your help, we're in the best situation to help the survivors of the Italy earthquake. Always prepared, always sheltering.
Currently we are helping families in Sri Lanka, Paraguay, Cameroon, Niger, and throughout the Syrian region. Please, help us in bringing aid to families who have lost their homes after the Perugia earthquake and elsewhere in the world.