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6.2 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Central Italy; North Korea Launches Ballistic Missile. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired August 24, 2016 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[00:00:17] SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: We have breaking news from central Italy, where a major earthquake has hit. The U.S. Geological Survey reports a magnitude 6.2 earthquake striking about 10 kilometers from the town of Norcia. People could feel the tremor all the way in Rome, which is about 170 kilometers from there.
This image is from the area. It gives you an indication of the damage that has so far been captured. An aftershock has already happened of a magnitude 5.5. CNN affiliate RAI reports several buildings have collapsed in Amatrice.
There are also, we are now just getting this information in, people have been hurt. Indeed there have been two fatalities that have been reported now from RAI. The USGS is saying that there will be significant casualties because this is a very large earthquake.
CNN contributor Barbie Nadeau joins us now from Italy. She is on her way toward the epicenter, where there is extensive damage according to the mayor there. Tell us what you can about what you're hearing about damage and the potential of more injuries and death there.
BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, you know, we can look back on this. It was in 2009 when a much lighter earthquake hit the town of L'Aquila, which is about 100 kilometers away from Rome. 300 people died in that earthquake.
This earthquake was much, much stronger and in an area which is much more densely populated. One of the big problems of this area is that the buildings that make it so picturesque and bring so many people there are very, very old and are easily compromised in a situation as an earthquake such as this.
We felt the tremor in Rome to such an extent it literally shook the house that I'm in, in the center of Rome; a really, really, really strong aftershock about an hour after that. The Italian media, as you said, is reporting initial casualties, two so far, that they know of. But they're showing pictures initially of a significant, significant damage -- lots of collapsed buildings. You know, balconies falling onto cars -- a lot of these old stone structures just in piles of rubble.
It's just first light in Italy right now, and the emergency services are just getting to these areas to try to find out if people are trapped, to try to make sure there are no gas lines that are on that could cause further damage and things like that.
But we can expect based on every sort of indication that this is going to be a major event here in Italy and people are really, you know, hoping for the best but expecting the worst.
SIDNER: Yes. You mentioned what happened in L'Aquila. That's only 87 kilometers from where the epicenter of this happened in Amatrice. Have you heard anything from the mayor? I understand that in Amatrice, there is talk that half the town is gone? What kind of details are we getting from where this earthquake started -- the epicenter of the earthquake?
NADEAU: Yes. The epicenter of the earthquake, there are reports of significant damage -- that these old stones buildings are just in heaps. There's also reports from L'Aquila that 250 people have been removed from their temporary housing, they're not even in permanent housing after that earthquake in 2009. Those people have been moved to a safer area.
They're making sure that bell towers, the churches at any of these really high old structures are cleared of people around them, making sure people are in safe areas, people are in parks. We've heard reports all through the last couple of hours that people are sleeping in their cars, that they've just taken everything they can out of their houses to be safe.
There's been aftershock after aftershock, very strong in the area, a couple that we felt in Rome as well. The damage, though, so far looks significant. And these are pictures that are taken in the dark that people are posting on social media, people are sending to the local media and things like that.
But you know, it's just first light. The sun is just coming up here in Italy, and it's just I think beginning to be very clear just how bad this damage is.
The Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, two hours ago, 4:00 in the morning here, called the civil protection, National Civil Protection Agency, and alerted them. He said, you know, get every available, you know, thing that you've got to the area to try to make sure people aren't trapped in these collapsed buildings.
So I think we're going to see as the day goes on there's going to be a move to make sure people are safe, get people to safe areas. And to try to assess what it looks like could be very extensive damage.
SIDNER: I do want to ask you where people might go in one of these situations because when you look at the area as you mentioned -- a lot of old beautiful buildings made of stone. Are you hearing that people are out in the streets or trying to get to areas so that they don't get hit by debris?
NADEAU: Yes, people go to their cars and they go to parks. They go to flat areas. They go to soccer fields. Those are the types of places that people gather, you know. [00:05:05] This is still the height of summer here. School in Italy doesn't start until middle of September. So people are still on vacation. They're in their summer homes.
Many of them are in this area of Umbria. People have lots of tourist amenities. Lots of agri-tourism which are these tourist farms and things like that that draw people from all over the world.
We're going to expect that there are tourists probably involved in this as well as residents, people who escape the city to spend their summers in beautiful Umbria, second only to Tuscany in terms of local tourism.
And what we're seeing right now so far from the initial reports, that there's not a lot left standing of some of these older hill towns. This also -- we've heard a little bit there could be some damage in Perugia, which is a very beautiful hilltop town that's very characteristic by medieval walls and things of that nature. All of that is going to have to be shored up and made safe before people can feel secure in those areas.
Earthquakes in this part of Italy happen often but not usually this strong. It is an earthquake zone, but this is a very, very strong earthquake, even for that area.
SIDNER: Yes. It should be mentioned. I mean it's certainly tragic. We know that now we're hearing from Italian media RAI saying there are two fatalities so far but the expectation is that unfortunately those numbers will grow because of the size of this earthquake.
But I do want to talk to you a little bit about the area. It's a mountainous area, correct? And you did say that this is only second to Tuscany for tourism. So I'm imagining that at this time of the year we're just coming to sort of the -- almost the end of the summer -- that there are still people, you know, hanging out and vacationing there as well and the residents trying to deal with this. This is going to be a real mess to clean up, isn't it?
NADEAU: That's absolutely right. It is a very populated area in the summertime. There are beautiful, beautiful summer homes people rent out to tourists and a very popular place for tourists from all over Europe, from the United States, who come and rent an old villa in a stone town in Umbria as well as Tuscany, but Umbria's really growing in popularity in the last few years.
What makes it so beautiful, what draws the people there, though, becomes so dangerous in an earthquake like this. It's these old churches, those old bell towers -- all those structures that have, you know, stood for hundreds and hundreds of years which are now so, so vulnerable in an earthquake like this.
SIDNER: And these structures are really historic and monuments of history. And that's why people go to these places in Italy. I just want to recap again for our viewers who are just joining us that there has been a major earthquake in central Italy, a magnitude 6.2 according to the U.S. Geological Survey hitting there. We know now from RAI, which is the Italian broadcaster there, that there are two reported fatalities. Those fatalities unfortunately expected to go higher. This happened in an area, as you're hearing there from Barbie Nadeau, a reporter who is headed toward the epicenter where there is damage. We are seeing pictures of damage coming in slowly.
We have to remember this is about 6:00 a.m., this happened just a couple of hours ago so kind of in very, very, very early in the morning when things were still dark. People are coming out. It's just now getting light.
As Barbie mentioned, this happened about 10 kilometers from Norcia. It happened, the epicenter, in Amatrice. This is a particularly beautiful area.
And we want to talk a little bit about how to get into the area because you mentioned something really important, that the civil protection agency is on its way. But what are the roads and the valleys and sorts of things, how are they going to be able to traverse those? Looking at some of these pictures, you're seeing all the stones in the roads.
NADEAU: Well, yes. I mean we're hearing about very significant damage in the roads. And you have to understand, a lot of these villages are connected by bridges -- old stone -- beautiful old stone bridges. Roadways that were meant for horse and carriage that now, you know, are narrower, are lined with rocks that are stone-lined.
Things like that are going to compromise the situation as the civil protection authorities get there. We know they've sent helicopters already in some of those areas. What they need to do first and foremost, of course, is make sure that nobody's trapped under rubble.
They also need to turn off gas lines, things like that that could compromise the situation even further. If a building has a big crack down the side of it and there's a gas line in it, they've got to turn off those very, very dangerous gas lines. Most of these old stone buildings use gas to heat the water.
And so all of those things that we saw -- we really learned a lot of lessons in L'Aquila in 2009 when a major earthquake struck that area, you know, about 100 miles from where the epicenter of this was. More than 300 people died there. That town still hasn't been rebuilt because they have so much seismic activity in that area.
[00:10:00] You know, there are thousands of people in that town that are still living in temporary shelters. One of the things that was really -- they concentrated on so much after that L'Aquila earthquake was whether or not people had reinforced these old structures. And I think we're going to see that as a major focus here.
Had people paid attention that they reinforced those old structures? Did they make it safe? Or did everybody just ignore that advice? You know, that's what -- you know, earthquakes, as they say, earthquakes don't kill people but buildings do. And Italy in all its glory many, many times has trouble when it comes to these basic infrastructure issues in terms of shoring up buildings, reinforcing things, following those rules that could save lives, especially at a time like this.
SIDNER: I think it's really important what you bring up about the gas lines. We in California in the United States, people will remember the Loma Prieta quake where in the marina neighborhood there were house that's were burning. There were gas lines that were broken all over the place, and that's what caused a lot of the damage.
And also I want to give some context about how big this is. The north ridge earthquake that happened here in Los Angeles was a 6.7. This is a 6.3. So smaller but still a significantly large earthquake has hit central Italy.
All right. Thank you so much, Barbie. I know you're on your way trying to get closer to the epicenter. And we will be calling you and trying to assess with you the damage that is there and also the death toll and the injuries that might have been caused by this devastating earthquake. We will check back with you in just a bit.
Let's go now to CNN meteorologist Pedram Javaheri, who is live for us and giving us an idea of just how bad this is from a scientific standpoint -- Pedram.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, the USGS does a wonderful job, Sara, looking at historic quakes across this region. There's been plenty of them in recent years -- of course 1997; most recently a large one in 2009; and then this in the last hour and a half or so.
You think about when this occurred. It's coming in at 3:36 in the morning. That's one of the primary concerns of this particular quake because as you heard in the previous discussion on the phone call, the quakes do not kill people, it's the structures that kill people -- high probability that everyone was within structures when this occurred.
And that's why the USGS is giving us a red alert as far as the highest likelihood for fatalities and also for damage potential across this region. And we'll touch on that momentarily.
But I want to go in for a closer look across this region because I count at least five aftershocks -- almost every single one of them from a 4.0 to about a 5.6 in magnitude. And when you go in for a close look, you can see where the epicenter was right there on the edge of a mountain.
Population here is very limited but I did find two communities. These are hillside communities, isolated communities. Notori (ph) is one of them. There is another one just to the north here and to the east is Capa Nueca (ph). And these particular communities are what we're concerned about with the highest likelihood of damage, potentially fatalities and also just very inaccessible to get to when you think about this particular location.
Coming in just south of this region you see a valley not much population, and then once you work slightly farther south within, say, about 20 kilometers, plenty of towns, all of which have at least a thousand people residing in them. And again, this could be another area where a lot of folks would need help at this hour.
And the sun in fact comes up in about 12 or so minutes across this region. So the damage, the scope of it, and the magnitude of what's occurred here really going to be visible in the next couple of hours based on just the sun coming up across this region after this quake having occurred at 3:30 in the morning.
So kind of laying the maps down for you of the most recent quakes across this region -- there's our most recent quake in the last 90 or so minutes, the 6.2 that occurred. You notice the 6.3 that took with it almost 300 lives in Italy back in 2009, the L'Aquila quake. And then there was a 6.0 back in September of 1997 that took 11 lives with it.
So we kind of see a large gap between the fatalities in quakes that are very similar in magnitude, similar fault line and location. So this is something that, of course, we have to wait and see how much damage and property damage and also loss of life have been left in place across this region.
But the quake itself being very shallow in nature really plays a significant role because there is very little buffering that takes place beneath your feet when this quake comes up at around 10 kilometers in depth. This is about 10 kilometers southeast of Norcia, Italy. We know it's about 100 kilometers away from Rome. That's a city 2.5 million people. And just about everyone felt at least moderate shaking in Rome. It really tells you what a scary, scary sight this may have been for people, for millions of people at 3:30 in the morning.
You would expect aftershocks with these to continue potentially for weeks if not months. That's precisely what we saw with recent quakes.
So there's our 6.2. You would typically see at least one aftershock in the 5.2 scale. We have already had that. Does not mean we cannot have more of these aftershocks in that scale. But this is based on historic quakes in the past in this region. And then you see about ten aftershocks. We've had about four or so now that have been in the 4 magnitude. And you can have hundreds that would continue again for weeks or months that would be weaker and just really make it an unnerving situation for these folks in this region.
[00:15:01] So Sara, when you look at the potential for economic losses, highest probability the USGS has put on this a 35 percent probability it would exceed $1 billion.
So again, it tells you the structural damage here could be widespread and also significant. We know just looking into the history of Norcia and this particular community there's evidence of human settlement going back to 10,000 B.C. across this region. Of course, the buildings hundreds and hundreds of years old across this region, much of them unreinforced brick masonry. We know there have been some restrictions put in place in recent years. Officials had said no structures should be built above three stories high just because of the risk of earthquakes. I'm not sure exactly how many are shorter than that height. But again, there has been structure limitations on this location just because of its history of being rocked by one quake after another.
And the estimated fatalities as well, Sara, when you look at this, the USGS has the highest likelihood again being around 35 percent. That would be between 100 to 1,000 people. And again, a big widespread area of numbers -- 100 or 1,000 but highest likelihood is that we're talking about that particular area of the amount of lives lost with a quake of this magnitude in this part of the world -- Sara.
SIDNER: Pedram, thank you so much for all that information.
We want to go now actually to Jessica Turner, who is a geophysicist from the U.S. Geological Survey. She is joining us now via phone.
Jessica, thank you first for joining us on this day. A lot of people have questions about this earthquake. I want to first ask you about the significance of the fact that it's 10 kilometers in depth and a magnitude 6.2 earthquake. Give us an idea what that means.
JESSICA TURNER, U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY (via telephone): Ok. A magnitude 6.2 earthquake that is at a shallow depth, which this is, it depends on where it is in the world. For example, here in a mountainous area with populations kind of all around it, it's going to cause some damage mainly because the energy has nowhere else to go except up into the buildings. And so that is the case that we're seeing now.
SIDNER: So you said because it's shallow that energy sort of explodes up into the buildings, the buildings shake, and we are seeing some of the damage right now from RAI, the Italian broadcaster there, of some of the stones that have come off some of these beautiful old buildings.
Can you talk to us about how prevalent earthquakes are in that area?
TURNER: Yes. So earthquakes in this area do happen from time to time. But at this size of magnitude, the 6.2 and also a little less than or a little greater than, they don't happen too often. There was a magnitude 6 kind of 300 kilometers away in 2012 and, of course, we heard earlier that there was the magnitude 6.3 in 2009 just 40 kilometers away from this event and also in 1997 on the other side of where this earthquake happened there was -- sorry, excuse me -- a magnitude 6.0 that occurred that killed 11 people.
And this earthquake is actually in the middle of where those two earthquakes were. So it's kind of that --
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SIDNER: Yes. I want to ask you, Jessica, about the 6.3 because that's the most recent one that we can all recall. That was devastating. It was the deadliest earthquake in Italy since 1980, L'Aquila earthquake. What made that one so deadly? Was it that it was so much bigger? 6.3 doesn't sound much bigger than a 6.2.
TURNER: So with that one it was in an area where people were living. And so people were just there when it occurred. Let me look real quick to see what time it was. It was in the evening when it occurred or actually no. It was early morning. Actually, very similar to when this one occurred. It was about 3:30 in the morning then as well.
SIDNER: People would have been in their homes sleeping.
TURNER: So people are at home, they're sleeping. They're not kind of aware of what's going on when the shaking does happen. And so that may cause a little delay for them getting to a place where they won't be injured.
SIDNER: Jessica, I thank you so much for your expertise on this and we'll be hopefully talking to you more.
Jessica Turner from the USGS.
We will have much more on this earthquake and the coverage here.
Plus we will move on to another story. The U.S. and South Korea conducting their annual joint military exercises; North Korea has tested one of its missiles during that exercise between the U.S. And South Korea -- reaction from the south coming up.
[00:19:52] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SIDNER: We have some updates for you on the breaking news: the major earthquake in Italy.
We are now hearing from a regional police in Rieti, and they are saying that there are many, many people who are dead. So that is the latest from a police officer who picked up the phone in Rieti, saying that they haven't counted and couldn't be specific but quote, "there were many people dead".
We also want to mention this. CNN affiliate RAI reports two victims in Ascolano. The mayor there said the scene is quote, "devastating". You are seeing some pictures now from another area in Italy near the epicenter where you're seeing some of the damage.
People in Rome also have reported feeling the tremors there. Our own Barbie Nadeau felt tremors in Rome. She's on her way now to get closer to the epicenter of where this happened.
This earthquake was a magnitude 6.2. Already there have been aftershocks. One of them was a 5.5. So a lot of people rattled out of their bed. There is fear that the death toll is going to go a lot higher. And now we are hearing some confirmation of that from a police officer in the area who picked up the phone. I think the situation is frantic. Saying couldn't give specifics but that there are many people dead.
[00:25:05] Now we're going to move on but we will give you more information as it becomes available on that earthquake in central Italy.
Now to Asia. North Korea is defying U.N. resolutions again by test- firing a submarine-based ballistic missile. South Korea says the missile was fired from the east coast and flew about 500 kilometers. That range is farther than North Korea's previous rockets have flown.
This comes as the U.S. and South Korea are involved in joint military exercises. North Korea has threatened nuclear retaliation if the drills show quote, "the slightest sign of aggression".
Will Ripley is joining us now from Seoul with the very latest on this. U.S. military is in the region, Will, working with our ally South Korea. Have we heard anything from the United States? Certainly South Korea has something to say about this, do they not?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: South Korea, Japan, the United States all tracked this launch before dawn in this part of the world, Sara. This is, as you mentioned, this submarine-launched ballistic missile traveled 500 kilometers -- around 300 miles. This is according to the U.S. and South Korean authorities.
This is 16 times farther than the previous successful missile launch back in April that North Korea heralded on state media as a major triumph. Nothing yet from North Korean state media about this particular launch but we're monitoring. Sometimes it takes a day before the news will come out.
You mentioned there's military exercises which are ongoing. They started on Monday. They happen every year. The U.S. and South Korean troops get together. The U.S. troops largely, most of them that are stationed here, are engaged in these exercises.
It's always infuriating to Pyongyang. But the difference now since the new leader Kim Jong Un has taken power in 2011 is the frequency of these missile tests. One South Korean official earlier this year estimated there have been some 30 missile launches since he took power.
Clearly, this is an investment by Kim in his military hardware. So you're talking about missiles that could be launched from submarines, missiles that could be launched from mobile launchers that make them very difficult to track in both of those cases. And then of course the top prize, an intercontinental ballistic missile with a miniaturized nuclear warhead capable of striking the United States.
North Korea is not there yet, but despite sanctions, despite strong condemnation from all over the world, and we heard it again today from South Korea, from Japan, North Korea is pushing forward, Sara, to develop these weapons.
SIDNER: Certainly making things more tense there in the region. Thank you so much, our Will Ripley reporting live for us from Seoul, South Korea.
Coming up, a deadly earthquake hits central Italy. We will have more on the death toll and the damage there that is being called "devastating". Our breaking news continues in just a few moments.
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[00:31:16] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN "Breaking News."
SIDNER: We're updating you now on the earthquake that struck central Italy in the last couple of hours. The U.S. geological survey says a magnitude 6.2 earthquake hit about 10 kilometers from the town of Norcia. And aftershock of a magnitude 5.5 has already followed that.
Our affiliate Rai reports two people have been killed in Ascolano. The USGS says significant casualties are likely because many of the buildings are vulnerable. They are older buildings. You can see pictures there of what happens. They tend to crumble. And the stones falling onto there is an ambulance that you see in that mess.
Joining me now on the phone eyewitness, Joanne Gillespie. She is about 33 kilometers from the epicenter of the quake, which is in Amatrice.
Can you first tell us what you experienced around I think it was 3:30 in the morning, something like that?
JOANNE GILLESPIE, EYEWITNESS (via telephone): Yes. It was 3:36. We were woken up by a loud rolling, rocking motion. So we woke the children up pretty quickly and we stood in the doorway. Then once it had gone down, we got everybody dressed, got our shoes on and went downstairs.
At that point, we decided we could stay inside. We didn't have any damage in our house. We slept on the couches in the living room near the door. And then we woke up again about an hour later with a big aftershock.
We again assessed the situation. We were -- like I said, our house is pretty modern. So we were OK. We're still inside. There haven't been any other shocks. We've been watching the news. And it's really terrible what happened.
SIDNER: Can you see from your vantage point any damage that does exist where you are? Can you tell me exactly where you are? What town you're in?
GILLESPIE: We're actually further away than you said. We're pretty much on that out of where you could feel it. We're in about 130 kilometers from the epicenter. So we can't actually see any damage from where we are. Although friends have said that they've had things falling off shelves and things in their house. Around us, we did feel it very strongly even though it was quite a way away. So from where we are, we can't see anything. But just watching the news come in.
SIDNER: Can you tell me, Joanne -- do you have any friends that are closer to the epicenter? Have you spoken to anyone who is in and around the region?
(CROSSTALK) GILLESPIE: We haven't managed to get in touch with anyone. We do have friends in L'Aquila, which is closer. And that's where the biggest quake was a couple of years ago. I'm still waiting to get in touch with them. I think their lines are out. And I don't want to disturb -- I don't want to make unnecessary calls when obviously the rescue people are trying to find people under the rubble.
SIDNER: Did you say that it was difficult getting in touch with people. I mean, you have tried at least one time just to see what happened when you did that? Did the phone ring?
(CROSSTALK)
GILLESPIE: Yes, I tried and then it gets off, because like I said, the lines need to be free.
SIDNER: OK. Any idea, you know, have you been this -- through this before? You said you're about 130 kilometers away from the epicenter. Have you been through some of these earthquakes before? You did mention 2009, and that was the deadliest earthquake since 1980 there, a huge earthquake. But that was a 6.3. So 2.1, you know, less powerful than the one that hit very closer to you.
[00:35:00] GILLESPIE: Yes, we felt that one as well. I remember very clearly that one because I was home alone with the children and the house definitely shook. In fact, there was like -- it took a deep breath in. The walls seemed to go in and out. And that one was, that one was terrible. We'd been up to, because like I said we've got friends that live there. But I'm from New Zealand. So we experience a lot of earthquakes.
(CROSSTALK)
SIDNER: You knew what to do. I think you said you went inside and found the strongest part of the structure that you could.
Tell me, how many children do you have? And how are they? How are your children doing now?
GILLESPIE: I have two children. They were quite afraid when it happened, of course. We woke them from a deep sleep. So we woke up, but they didn't. So we had to wake them. We have a plan. So they knew what to do. They got their shoes on and they went straight to the doorway. Their bedroom doorways. And braced themselves there.
And then once it passed, we all quickly got sweatshirts on, our pajamas, and went into the living room. And that's our plan because we have a front door near the living room so if we do need to get out, we can get out quickly there.
It's very important for families in earthquake-prone areas to have an evacuation plan and discuss it with their children so that when the moment happens, there's no panic. Although we did slightly panic.
SIDNER: That's very good advice. Yes, very good advice for people who are not used to being in this sort of situation. I'm in California. We have earthquakes every now and then. But this is a big one. And it's very, very different when you feel a big one.
(CROSSTALK)
GILLESPIE: Yes, they do seem to be really big ones in Italy. The same as in New Zealand. When they happen, they happen and it's a serious thing.
Unfortunately, obviously, you are seeing images come out of the towns, when you have towns that were built in the medieval times. They haven't been reinforced. They haven't had earthquake proofing done on them. And the result is devastating.
The houses are made out of usually big stone blocks. Old houses. So when they collapse, they really do a lot of damage.
SIDNER: Right. And that's what you often hear from the USGS. You hear that from the civil protection agency. It's these things like things falling on people that can be deadly or create injuries, not necessary the earthquake itself. You would generally just fall over if it was strong enough. But it is the debris that is the dangerous thing.
I do want to ask you think. You talked about the fact that, you know, some of these structures, they're very old. They're ancient. They're beautiful. And that's why people love to go visit and live in places like this in Italy. But as far as getting things retrofitted, I mean, it's got to be extremely expensive. Is that something the government helps people with? Or is that something that you sort of have to come out of pocket because that might explain why some of these buildings I imagine would take quite a great deal of money to retrofit some of these ancient buildings.
GILLESPIE: Yes, I think in some cases it's virtually impossible to retrofit them. Some work has been done. And obviously after every big earthquake, there's a lot of hand wringing. And they look to start putting programs in place. I'm not too sure. I can't really comment on that situation, what the government does or doesn't do. Because I know that a lot of places that have had big earthquakes are still waiting. Even after 10 to 15 to 20 years to get help, to get back into proper housing. So it's a long process.
And as to retrofitting, I really don't know how much they can do with these old buildings. You see some more public buildings have been earthquake-proofed to a certain extent. But people -- you know, with private property and houses, I think you have to do that yourself.
SIDNER: Yes. Thank you so much, Joanne Gillespie. And I know this has been a rough time for you and your children there. I wish you well. I know there will likely be more aftershocks. And I'm sure you've warned them about that. They have been through this before. But we're glad that you're OK.
GILLESPIE: Yes, thank you very much. I think we'll be fine. I'm more worried about the people that are actually closer to the epicenter that are still waking up to a terrible thing this morning. And just hoping that it's not as -- not as many victims as they're predicting.
SIDNER: Thank you so much. Wonderful words from Joanne Gillespie, who was there during this earthquake. That was a 6.2 magnitude about -- she was about 130 kilometers away from the epicenter.
Now, I want to go to Ilario Piagnerelli, who is a Rai TV reporter on the outskirts of Rome.
What can you tell me, Ilario, about what you're hearing about damage and what you're hearing about casualties from this large earthquake?
ILARIO PIAGNERELLI, RAI TV REPORTER (via telephone): Good morning. At the moment, we know about four people that have died, wreckage on the ground, (INAUDIBLE) there are children under the wreckage of these houses.
[00:40:00] This is huge because it's really rare that such a huge part of our country can feel an earthquake. This was clearly felt by the whole Central Italy. At least four Italian regions were able to feel it. And there have been two main shocks, one at 3:36 in the night, the other one at 4:51. The first one was the strongest. 6 degrees on the Richter scale.
Everybody clearly felt it. Rome, clearly felt it, in Naples, but also north up to Rimini they were able. I personally was under a load- bearing wall of my house. Then when I went on Twitter, I collected too many reports from too many areas of Italy anywhere the epicenter. As we may know, in this relatively (INAUDIBLE) of Apennine Mountains.
There are just small villages, but there are many villages and the problem is that it's really populated by the summer because it's popular for leisure. There are lakes, there are mountains and many, many, many people will emigrate from these villages used to go back there by the summer.
So now the most hit town is Amatrice, which is widely known for (INAUDIBLE). And it has roughly 2,000 -- I think 2,600 people. And the mayor of Amatrice said that half of the town is destroyed and there are people under the destroyed houses.
As far as I know, there's a civil protection committee that is making these rounds now. And many special vehicles and helicopters are rushing there from all Italy. Yes.
And I think, a seismologist, they came to our channel have said -- for the magnitude, this is quite the same that the 2009 earthquake of L'Aquila that left more than 300 people dead. But that time was a big city. L'aquila is a big city. This time is just many villages. No big city. And --
(CROSSTALK)
SIDNER: So Ilario, I want to repeat some of what you said, I want to repeat some of what you said because it's really important. I think you said that this time of year, there are a lot of people that are in that area because it's the summertime and people enjoy going out to these beautiful places in Central Italy.
They come in from the big cities like Rome to enjoy themselves and have a nice summer break. And so you're saying the populations are larger right now. And, unfortunately, this earthquake was quite large and happened -- right, it happened at 3:30 in the morning, right?
So it sounds like that we could have quite a few casualties. And that is what we're hearing from authorities as well. That there are potentially going to be a large number of casualties. But so far all we know for sure is that authorities have said two people have lost their lives in this earthquake.
You have mentioned something that's terribly tragic that you were seeing reporting of children that are trapped underneath some of the debris of the homes in most likely Amatrice and that the mayor there said that half of his town is destroyed.
Ilario, I thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us. And I'm sure we'll be speaking with you again. We are going to have to go to break, but we will come back and give an update on what is happening with this major earthquake. A 6.2 magnitude earthquake that hit Central Italy.
We know two people are dead. And we understand that many more could be injured or dead. We will give you the latest details in just a bit.
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[00:47:20] SIDNER: Back to our top story for you now. New details. A police officer reports that many people have been killed in a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that has struck Central Italy.
Our affiliate Rai reports that four people so far officially have been killed in that quake. The quake hit about 10 kilometers south of Norcia. That's about 170 kilometers northwest of Rome.
Reuters is now reporting that the town Amatrice has been badly damaged. That is where the epicenter of this earthquake happened. The mayor there is saying that roads are indeed cut off and that half the town is gone.
Joining us now is Eve Reed. She is a British national traveling with her family north of Rome. And she felt the effects of that earthquake firsthand.
First of all, Eve, how are you and your family doing?
EVE REED, EYEWITNESS (via telephone): We're a little shaken, but we're fine apart from that. Thank you.
SIDNER: Can you tell me what you experienced and where exactly you were when the quake happened I think around 3:36 in the morning? REED: Correct. It was just after 3:30. We were all asleep in bed. There are about three generations of the family. So my husband and I woke up being shaken from side to side in the bed. That's what it felt like. And it probably continued for six or seven seconds after we'd woken up.
SIDNER: So you feel this shaking. What did you do after that? Because those are the moments that are extremely dangerous. And were you in an older home or in something that was newer construction?
REED: Yes, we're in a 200-year-old converted farmhouse, a holiday rental. We stayed in a couple of times before. So quite a nice property. And fully renovated, obviously, but not built with modern shockproof technology or anything.
Our children were in the bedroom next door to us. Our immediate reaction was to wait until the shaking dies down and then go check on them to make sure they were OK.
SIDNER: Did the home that you were renting, did it experience any damage? Have you seen any damage around? And is everybody OK? Did anyone receive any injuries during all this?
REED: No injuries. Everybody is fine. And the ceiling -- parts of the ceiling in one of the bathrooms collapsed. We think just plaster coming away. It's caused quite a lot of damage in the bathroom. Fortunately, no one was there at the time. We're in a very rural area. So I can literally only see one house from where we are. And that appears to be OK. We've spoken to the neighbors. They're OK.
SIDNER: Can you tell me exactly where you are, the name of the village that you're in?
REED: We're outside of a village called San Venanzo near Monte San Martino.
[00:50:10] SIDNER: OK. We're looking at pictures --
(CROSSTALK)
REED: It's quite around 20 kilometers -- sorry.
SIDNER: OK. No, fine.
We're looking at pictures that I think you have sent us. We're looking at that damage you talked about. The bathroom having quite extensive damage. And we can see that. Now we're looking at some of the cracks in the walls. It appears, and I'm assuming those were not there when you got there, correct?
REED: Correct. Correct. I don't think that anything is structural. I think it is all internal. Cracking of plaster. The external of the building appears to be fine.
(CROSSTALK) SIDNER: We're not seeing huge chunks of stone or anything like that, but we are seeing some of the plaster and we are seeing the cracks there.
REED: Correct.
SIDNER: Do you have any other friends, family that are in the area that you have tried to contact, or have heard from anybody who is closer to the epicenter?
REED: We have spoken to the lady who looks after the property, the owner. And she drove down to make sure we were OK. I believe they have a little more damage than we do. But they're not far from where we are. So not much closer to the epicenter, I don't believe.
SIDNER: I'm sure this is extremely scary for the family. Has the family ever been through an earthquake before? You don't get these really in Britain.
REED: No. No, obviously in the U.K., it's not something we experience very often at all. And I think the family are probably more shaken than people who would live in this area or, you know, parts of America where it's quite frequent. But we're all OK. We're a little bit shaken.
There were still -- there are still a few aftershocks happening. We had one around half an hour ago that was fairly significant. And so just being careful. And making sure we're close to open space.
SIDNER: Yes. Nothing rattles your nerves more than when the ground shakes beneath you, and there's nothing you can do about it.
I do want to ask you about traveling out. Do you have plans to leave as you are on holiday with the family? And have you assessed at all what the roads may look like? I imagine will you be flying out of there? Will you be taking a train? How will you exit?
REED: We have flights booked from Pescara, which is around two hours' drive down the coast. I don't know what the roads will be like. We've only started our holiday. So we have another 11 days or so.
SIDNER: OK. Well, Eve, thank you so much. Eve Reed joining us and telling us what she felt when this 6.2 magnitude earthquake hit. And the family certainly felt it, but everyone's OK. And we're glad to hear that.
We are going to now go to CNN contributor Barbie Nadeau, who joins us now with more details. She is traveling from Rome closer to the epicenter.
Barbie, what can you tell us that you've heard at this hour?
NADEAU (via telephone): Well, at first light, you know, people are able to assess the damage a lot better, and what we're hearing are reports upon reports of collapsed buildings in some of these smaller towns. There's a tiny, tiny town near the epicenter which as you referred to, half the town is gone according to the mayor. We've heard on Italian media people calling in from that area, speaking obviously in Italian, telling about just the horror and the sound of the crumbling buildings that's been one of the, you know, distinctive factors is the sound of a stone building falling down.
People describing that just as it's collapsing. You can imagine it, what that could sound like. These areas, as we've talked about before, are so remote and so beautiful. That's what draws people to the area. These old stone structures. You know, 200, 300-year-old buildings that people have renovated and rented out to tourists or that people have kept in their families for years and years and are enjoying the last of their summer holidays out there.
The area is very, very populated. And this is, you know -- this is one of the concerns by the civil protection authority. They can't get to the areas. The roads are collapsed. Bridges are collapsed. So many places.
The hilltop villages are connected by old stone bridges or even modern bridges that are compromised and just aren't safe for any sort of heavy equipment.
You know, we've got lots of reports of people going through the rubble, trying to find survivors. You know, listen for voices. You know, lots and lots of stories that people being pulled out alive. Lots and lots of stories about ambulances in the area as well as people calling into local radio shows and things like that to tell a horrific experience about this 3:30 a.m. earthquake and the aftershocks.
We understand as well that the second aftershock, the one that happened around 4:45 is what caused a lot more of the collapse. The first one obviously compromised the structures. The second aftershock it seems is the one according to a lot of these eyewitness and people who were affected is the one that really caused the damage in these buildings to collapse.
SIDNER: We heard from a Rai reporter, who talked to us a little bit, too, about the fact that this is the summertime. There are a lot of people who go to this part of Central Italy to enjoy themselves, to enjoy their summer. And we've also been looking at new pictures that have come in to us from the area. And we are seeing some major, major damage in the area. Huge amounts of stone that have clearly collapsed buildings.
We're seeing people with flashlights looking around. We're seeing people standing outside of those structures. You know, obviously trying to keep away from being hit by some of those stones.
[00:55:34] I think we're seeing some pictures right now of people hugging each other. And now someone driving down some of these roads. And I know that you had spoken about the potential that the roads are going to be hard to traverse. You had talked about authorities trying to get in there. What is the situation? Do we know anything more about whether or not authorities have made it into some of these devastated areas?
NADEAU: Well, we know that the National Civil Protection Authority is in control of the situation right now. That means it really basically came to a national disaster area. That means they can mobilize everybody in the area. They can bring people from Rome --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you're hearing right now is our current air check. That's our reporter from Rome who is talking right now.
(CROSSTALK)
NADEAU: That are, you know, calling for people to come donate blood, that are calling doctors and emergency workers in from vacation to be ready at the local hospital.
This is a very populated -- it's very populated area, but it's a not very cosmopolitan area. So the hospitals are small. They're little emergency rooms that generally take care of kind of summer injuries. You know, the closest hospitals are going to be in Rome and in L'Aquila.
There's a fairly major hospital there in the more modern area of that city. Of course that city was devastated by an earthquake in 2009. No one has escaped that memory and trying to draw comparisons to just how authorities are responding this time around, and whether or not any of these buildings that were supposed to have introduced, anti- seismic reinforcements, if anybody took heed and did that, took precautions and things like that as the sun comes up, we're finding out more and more.
SIDNER: Thank you so much, Barbie Nadeau, who is on her way towards the epicenter right now. We do want to remind you, 6.2 earthquake that hit Central Italy. The epicenter is Amatrice. There, the mayor is saying that about half of his town is destroyed. We will have more details coming up.
Right now I'm Sara Sidner in Los Angeles.
CNN's coverage of the earthquake in Central Italy continues with our Isha Sesay. And she will be right back after a quick break.
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