L'Aquila lies about 50 km (31 miles) from Amatrice, the town at the center of last week’s earthquake in central Italy. “There was a big bang, an explosion and the whole house was shaking left and right,” recalls Davide Tonati, a 36-year-old L’Aquila survivor, who lived in the city center. Today, the “zona rossa” -- or red zone -- remains in place, and the vast majority of structures within lie abandoned. Doors hang off their hinges to reveal abandoned shops in the red zone, still filled with detritus and debris. “They should be looking forward, I am positive because I have lived this before -- Italians are very generous.”A back street in Friuli Venezia Giulia is named for the date of the L’Aquila earthquake.

Source: CNN August 31, 2016 06:11 UTC