Italian Muslims rush to aid quake victims
"We heard that hospitals needed blood and thus I am coordinating with the Muslims in the area so they can donate," Mustafa Badstami, spokesman of the local Muslim community, told the AKI news agency.
He said Muslims have also joined relief efforts to help victims and search for survivors.
"I ask all Muslims of the area to help the victims in any way necessary."
A 6.3-magnitude quake struck L'Aquila, the capital of Abruzzo, and other 32 surrounding cities in the wee hours of Monday, April 6.
The tremor caught people in their sleep and flattened a huge number of buildings, including several churches.
More than 207 people were killed, over 1,500 injured and nearly 34 are still missing.
Between 30,000 to 40,000 people have reportedly lost their homes.
Badstami said that due to problems in the communicationswork he is unable to confirm the impact of the quake on Muslims and Islamic institutions.
"What I can say is that the mosque in San Nicolo in the province of Teramo was not damaged, and we also have no news about Muslim victims," he added.
"We can say the same about the mosques in the surrounding area of Avezzano."
Italy has a Muslim population of some 1.2 million, including 20,000 reverts, according to unofficial estimates.
- Rescue
More than 24 hours after the quake, rescuers and volunteers are still racing against time to find survivors under the huge rubbles.
"All we could see was his head sticking from the rubble, his entire body was buried," a fireman told Reuters about rescuing a boy from the rubble of his house after a day-long search.
"We kept digging, picking piece by piece of debris and we finally managed to get him out -- when we did the fatigue was great but so was our joy."
Rescuers have so far pulled some 100 people from the debris.
"I only remember this huge rumble and then someone dragged me out, but I don't know what happened to my wife and three-year-old son," said Stefano Esposito, 35, one of the survivors.
People in the quake-wrecked cities criticized the government's handling of the crisis.
"My husband has been helping the rescue workers and he has been taking away bodies with his bare hands," said resident Silvana.
"It is just a nightmare."
Villagers also heaped blame on the government over failure to heed many warning signs of the quake in recent weeks.
"It's a scandal what's happened," resident Maria Francesco told Agence France Presse (AFP).
"For the past three months there have been regular tremors, and they've been getting stronger and stronger!"
The quake was Italy's worst since November 1980 when a tremor measuring 6.5 killed 2,735 people.
Italy is criss-crossed by two fault lines, making it one of Europe's most quake-vulnerable regions, putting the lives of 20 million at risk.
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