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American Morning
Massive Earthquake in Sicily
Aired October 31, 2002 - 07:31 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And now as promised, we are now able to establish a line there with our reporter Chris Burns, who is standing by now on the slopes of Mount Etna somewhere nearby. He's in Sicily. And we've got word there that a massive earthquake there, Chris, has caused some major problems.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leon, the earth is very much alive here in Italy, in Sicily right now, as well as on the mainland, the mainland, that's the last word, Italian television saying a 5.5 on the Richter Scale in the Apennines on the Adriatic side that shook that area. That had been shaken before, this time in the area of Campobaso (ph). And the most dramatic development there is at a school, a kindergarten in the town of Sanpa Juliana de Polia (ph). Fifty children, very young children, at a kindergarten, are trapped inside this building. The roof has collapsed and what is making it even more difficult for rescue authorities to get there and try to rescue them is the bridge leading to it collapsed.
Now, the Italian news agencies are reporting some injuries among those children, so Italy is very much fixed on that. At the same time, over here in Sicily, I'm standing on the slopes of Mount Etna. It sounds like artillery fire just about every few seconds. And that artillery fire is the explosions from the magma that is meeting the aquifer, the water underground, according to a volcanologist we just talked to.
Those explosions are going on repeatedly this morning, again, fraying nerves among people who are shaken here in the villages nearby from the eruptions and from earthquakes in the last few days.
So the earth's very much alive here -- Leon.
HARRIS: Well, Chris, the obvious question immediately that pops to mind is how close are the children and anyone else who may be trapped right now to the lava flow?
BURNS: Well, this is, these are two different places. The children are over there on the mainland in the Apennines. That has nothing, officials, the volcanologists here say that the two earthquakes, the one on the mainland and those going on here around Mount Etna, are not related. There is another concern, also, in the Naples area, which is not, is in the same sort of region of that earthquake on the mainland. That is a place where people are very nervous about Mount Vesuvius, the explosive volcano, coming back to life. And they felt that earthquake over there in Campobaso (ph). That caused a lot of concern there. Officials here reassuring the people there that they are not related, that Vesuvius is not coming back to life because of that earthquake. But still a lot of jarred and frayed nerves here in southern Italy and in Sicily because of all that earth activity -- Leon.
HARRIS: Well, folks there have long memories.
Chris Burns reporting for us now live from the slopes of Mount Etna.
We'll get back to him later on and check on developments on that story.
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 October 31, 2002 - 07:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And now as promised, we are now able to establish a line there with our reporter Chris Burns, who is standing by now on the slopes of Mount Etna somewhere nearby. He's in Sicily. And we've got word there that a massive earthquake there, Chris, has caused some major problems.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leon, the earth is very much alive here in Italy, in Sicily right now, as well as on the mainland, the mainland, that's the last word, Italian television saying a 5.5 on the Richter Scale in the Apennines on the Adriatic side that shook that area. That had been shaken before, this time in the area of Campobaso (ph). And the most dramatic development there is at a school, a kindergarten in the town of Sanpa Juliana de Polia (ph). Fifty children, very young children, at a kindergarten, are trapped inside this building. The roof has collapsed and what is making it even more difficult for rescue authorities to get there and try to rescue them is the bridge leading to it collapsed.
Now, the Italian news agencies are reporting some injuries among those children, so Italy is very much fixed on that. At the same time, over here in Sicily, I'm standing on the slopes of Mount Etna. It sounds like artillery fire just about every few seconds. And that artillery fire is the explosions from the magma that is meeting the aquifer, the water underground, according to a volcanologist we just talked to.
Those explosions are going on repeatedly this morning, again, fraying nerves among people who are shaken here in the villages nearby from the eruptions and from earthquakes in the last few days.
So the earth's very much alive here -- Leon.
HARRIS: Well, Chris, the obvious question immediately that pops to mind is how close are the children and anyone else who may be trapped right now to the lava flow?
BURNS: Well, this is, these are two different places. The children are over there on the mainland in the Apennines. That has nothing, officials, the volcanologists here say that the two earthquakes, the one on the mainland and those going on here around Mount Etna, are not related. There is another concern, also, in the Naples area, which is not, is in the same sort of region of that earthquake on the mainland. That is a place where people are very nervous about Mount Vesuvius, the explosive volcano, coming back to life. And they felt that earthquake over there in Campobaso (ph). That caused a lot of concern there. Officials here reassuring the people there that they are not related, that Vesuvius is not coming back to life because of that earthquake. But still a lot of jarred and frayed nerves here in southern Italy and in Sicily because of all that earth activity -- Leon.
HARRIS: Well, folks there have long memories.
Chris Burns reporting for us now live from the slopes of Mount Etna.
We'll get back to him later on and check on developments on that story.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
