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CNN Live Today
Italy Schoolhouse Death Toll at 27
Aired November 01, 2002 - 11:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We move on to world news now and to southeastern Italy, where the death toll stands at 27, as officials say no one else is alive in the ruins of a collapsed schoolhouse.
The building was flattened in a strong earthquake yesterday and strong new tremors are reported in the same region today. We get the latest from reporter Delia Gallagher, who is joining us now.
And Delia, as we rejoined you last hour, just before we came to you, you felt yet another strong tremor. We didn't have a chance to ask you exactly what that felt like, so maybe you can describe that for our viewers please.
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN REPORTER: Well, if anybody has been in an earthquake, and I've been in several, being from San Francisco, this was, I have guessed, about a 4.5, if not a 5, on the Richter scale. The problem here is it's a hilly town, Daryn, and a lot of the buildings have not -- are not completely constructed.
If you've seen some towns in the Italy or in the Mediterranean, they start to build them and sometimes leave them with bricks and things undone. And so there are a lot of loose bricks lying around that are very dangerous to people standing around here.
Now, what happened about 45 minutes ago was that the crews were moving out. We had the final confirmations, which I gave you, that 27 children have been confirmed dead, that they were no longer looking for any victims. They had all been pulled out. So the crews were moving out, people were quietly walking along, obviously, very grieved. Then this second, very big aftershock came. There have been several aftershocks, but much smaller scale.
The second big one came and it has really raised the anxiety level here to a new level. Lots of chaos, people running out of the building behind me, which is being used as the temporary morgue for those 27 babies. All of the family members were inside there and they came out. Lots of people here in the streets that were wandering around, began running down the hill. So it was a very chaotic scene. It has since calmed down, but there is now fear. There is fear for the aftershocks and for what could possibly happen through the night and in the following days -- Daryn.
KAGAN: This is a town, as you mentioned, that is already very traumatized, many of these parents having already lost their children, many standing by with hope that some were still alive inside. And as you were saying, the news not good, just a little bit ago, where officials were saying that they believe everybody who was inside is, indeed, dead.
GALLAGHER: Yes, well, in fact, it's important to say that they have removed everybody that was inside, so they have accounted for all 62 people that were in that school yesterday, when it collapsed at 11:30. So they have taken those 27 children. There are two other children reported dead in the surrounding areas, as a result of the earthquake but not in this town, as a result of the collapse of the school.
I should also mention, Daryn, that from this second quake that we had about 45 minutes ago, some of the officials are coming from other neighboring towns saying that there has been damage. We do not have reports of injuries, but there has been damage to houses. And, indeed, just down the road from me, a few houses, you can see the damage. I won't say that they've collapsed, but there has been some extensive damage, again, to this town and to neighboring towns -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And meanwhile, we've been able to see people kind of walking behind you, Delia, also people still down there below on the hill. I think that's what's left of the school building. These are people who are still trying to wait to hear what happened or tell us what they're doing there, please?
GALLAGHER: What's behind me, Daryn, is the makeshift morgue. It's a gymnasium of the school. It is not the site where the school collapsed. That is around the corner and that has been cordoned off. So what you see behind me is the gymnasium where they have brought the bodies of the 27 children in small coffins to be identified by the family members.
So the people behind me are family members and friends that have come today from all over Italy to give support to those family members and they, obviously, are staying in that area and will not leave, no matter many earthquakes happen in the following few days, because that's where their children are -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Just so, so sad in southern Italy. Delia Gallagher, thank you for the latest from there. We really appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 1, 2002 - 11:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We move on to world news now and to southeastern Italy, where the death toll stands at 27, as officials say no one else is alive in the ruins of a collapsed schoolhouse.
The building was flattened in a strong earthquake yesterday and strong new tremors are reported in the same region today. We get the latest from reporter Delia Gallagher, who is joining us now.
And Delia, as we rejoined you last hour, just before we came to you, you felt yet another strong tremor. We didn't have a chance to ask you exactly what that felt like, so maybe you can describe that for our viewers please.
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN REPORTER: Well, if anybody has been in an earthquake, and I've been in several, being from San Francisco, this was, I have guessed, about a 4.5, if not a 5, on the Richter scale. The problem here is it's a hilly town, Daryn, and a lot of the buildings have not -- are not completely constructed.
If you've seen some towns in the Italy or in the Mediterranean, they start to build them and sometimes leave them with bricks and things undone. And so there are a lot of loose bricks lying around that are very dangerous to people standing around here.
Now, what happened about 45 minutes ago was that the crews were moving out. We had the final confirmations, which I gave you, that 27 children have been confirmed dead, that they were no longer looking for any victims. They had all been pulled out. So the crews were moving out, people were quietly walking along, obviously, very grieved. Then this second, very big aftershock came. There have been several aftershocks, but much smaller scale.
The second big one came and it has really raised the anxiety level here to a new level. Lots of chaos, people running out of the building behind me, which is being used as the temporary morgue for those 27 babies. All of the family members were inside there and they came out. Lots of people here in the streets that were wandering around, began running down the hill. So it was a very chaotic scene. It has since calmed down, but there is now fear. There is fear for the aftershocks and for what could possibly happen through the night and in the following days -- Daryn.
KAGAN: This is a town, as you mentioned, that is already very traumatized, many of these parents having already lost their children, many standing by with hope that some were still alive inside. And as you were saying, the news not good, just a little bit ago, where officials were saying that they believe everybody who was inside is, indeed, dead.
GALLAGHER: Yes, well, in fact, it's important to say that they have removed everybody that was inside, so they have accounted for all 62 people that were in that school yesterday, when it collapsed at 11:30. So they have taken those 27 children. There are two other children reported dead in the surrounding areas, as a result of the earthquake but not in this town, as a result of the collapse of the school.
I should also mention, Daryn, that from this second quake that we had about 45 minutes ago, some of the officials are coming from other neighboring towns saying that there has been damage. We do not have reports of injuries, but there has been damage to houses. And, indeed, just down the road from me, a few houses, you can see the damage. I won't say that they've collapsed, but there has been some extensive damage, again, to this town and to neighboring towns -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And meanwhile, we've been able to see people kind of walking behind you, Delia, also people still down there below on the hill. I think that's what's left of the school building. These are people who are still trying to wait to hear what happened or tell us what they're doing there, please?
GALLAGHER: What's behind me, Daryn, is the makeshift morgue. It's a gymnasium of the school. It is not the site where the school collapsed. That is around the corner and that has been cordoned off. So what you see behind me is the gymnasium where they have brought the bodies of the 27 children in small coffins to be identified by the family members.
So the people behind me are family members and friends that have come today from all over Italy to give support to those family members and they, obviously, are staying in that area and will not leave, no matter many earthquakes happen in the following few days, because that's where their children are -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Just so, so sad in southern Italy. Delia Gallagher, thank you for the latest from there. We really appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
