Aftershocks rattle rescuers as Italy quake toll rises to 268

AMATRICE, Italy — The mayor of this medieval mountain town, which suffered the largest number of casualties from a devastating earthquake in central Italy, said Friday two heavily damaged bridges have been closed, threatening to cut the town off from the outside world.

Mayor Sergio Pirozzi said he was working with authorities to find alternative routes to bypass the damaged bridges.

"We hope to God it works, because otherwise, with the damaged stretch of road, we are without any connection" to the main roads, he said.

Even before the bridges were shut down Friday, roads have been choked with heavy traffic as emergency vehicles bring scores of rescue crews up to town and dump trucks carry tons of concrete, rocks and metal back out the single-lane roads.

Officials said Friday the death toll from Wednesday's earthquake that rocked central Italy increased to 268, with 387 people being treated at hospitals.

In Italian town, nothing left to hold a funeral for quake victims

Three British citizens, including a 14-year-old boy, were among those killed in Amatrice, their families said, according to The Guardian.

Rescue teams continued to look for possible survivors despite hundreds of aftershocks that were hampering first responders digging around already damaged buildings in the hardest-hit areas.

Rescuers are wary that more crumbled buildings might come down amid nearly 1,000 aftershocks that have jolted the region. The biggest one struck at 6:28 a.m. local time Friday with a magnitude of 4.7, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Although it has been 24 hours since anyone has been pulled alive from the rubble, Immacolata Postiglione, chief civil protection agency, insisted the rescue effort continues at full speed and had not switched to a recovery mission.

"The units that are doing the searches and rescues, including with dogs looking for other people trapped in the rubble, are absolutely fully active,” she said early Friday, according to the Italian news agency ANSA.

Rescue workers noted that one person was pulled out alive from L’Aquila’s 2009 quake after 72 hours.

Fireman and volunteer rescue worker Claudio Catanese, 32, said the work is hard and nonstop. "You don’t sleep and your muscles hurt," Catanese said. "But when you save someone’s life, it fills you with new energy. There’s a great satisfaction in that."

While rescuers keep up the hope of finding more people alive, many families have begun making funeral plans. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi declared Saturday a national day of mourning for quake victims.

In addition to Arquata del Tronto’s funerals in Ascoli Piceno, several other cities, including Amatrice, Accumoli di Rieti, and Pescara del Tronto — all among the hardest hit — will hold their first funerals over the weekend. 

“It is time now for us to bury our loved ones,” said Amatrice homemaker Franca Mariano, 40, who lost two close friends and one cousin in the earthquake. “Everyone here knows someone who died Wednesday. We have to honor them and then do our best to move on.”

Town leaders are also beginning to tackle the enormous task of rebuilding. Renzi has pledged $56 million in reconstruction funds. Pirozzi, the mayor of Amatrice, said his town of 3,000 people would have to start from scratch.

"Amatrice has to be razed to the ground completely, " he said Friday, according to ANSA. He said the only structure still standing completely is the Romanesque church of St. Francis — everything else is gone.

"We would like to rebuild in the same place, perhaps with the same form and with the same aesthetic," he said.

Amatrice is perhaps best known as the home of spaghetti all’amatriciana, a hearty dish of pasta made with bacon-like bits of cured pork jowl, pecorino cheese and tomato.The town was set to host its 50th spaghetti festival Saturday.

British celebrity chef and restaurateur Jamie Oliver is joining an effort to raise money for Italian earthquake victims by donating a portion of proceeds from every plate of Pasta Amatriciana to the relief effort, The Associated Press reported.

Oliver said more than $2.50 from the sale of the dish specific to the region will be donated. He told his Instagram following that “this could really make a difference” and that money will go to firefighters, camps, food, clothing and medical assistance.