Long before the sun\u2019s first rays touched the ruins of Amatrice on Thursday, they were hard at work. Amid the mountains of rubble left by the 6.2-magnitude earthquake, rescue workers, firefighters and volunteers continued their grim search.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Thousands had come to help, from all over Italy and across Europe<\/a>. According to the national civil protection agency, more than half the 5,400 people who have joined the mammoth rescue effort are volunteers.<\/p>\n Italy earthquake: death toll soars as powerful aftershock rocks Amatrice <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Cristobal Rodr\u00edguez, a firefighter with a Spanish emergency response organisation, had spent 12 hours travelling to the stricken zone from M\u00e1laga with his rescue dog, Lula. He was optimistic: \u201cWe\u2019re hopeful we\u2019ll find more survivors.\u201d<\/p>\n His colleague Juan Manuel Lacueva, a veteran of international disasters including Haiti\u2019s devastating 2010 quake, stood nearby with his dog, Blackie. \u201cFirefighters from M\u00e1laga are always the first ones called,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have the best rescue dogs.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked how the quake that struck this cluster of ancient hilltop towns in the early hours of Wednesday<\/a> compared, Lacueva said: \u201cIt\u2019s hard, it\u2019s tragic, for sure. For Europe, this is very dramatic. We were hoping to find there were fewer victims.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Lacueva, if Blackie barks it means there is someone alive less than two metres beneath the rubble. Firefighters and other members of the rescue team must then work carefully, digging often by hand, to pull the victim to safety.<\/p>\n If the dog does not bark, it means heavy machinery can be sent in to clear the debris. \u201cBut they still have to be careful,\u201d he said. \u201cIn case there are dead bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n A dog searches through the rubble in Amatrice. Photograph: Roma\/Rex\/Shutterstock <\/p>\n Sniffer dogs are really only useful in situations like these for the first three days, Lacueva added. Beyond that, it is unlikely anyone will have survived without water. But he, too, was hopeful: \u201cI\u2019m convinced that there are more people to be found. We\u2019re going to find them. We\u2019ll sleep when we\u2019re back in Spain.\u201d<\/p>\n ‘I’ll remember evil murmur of moving walls’: Italy earthquake survivors’ tales emerge <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Lorenzo Botti, 59, a firefighter from Rome, said about 50 sniffer dogs were involved in the rescue effort in Amatrice. Throughout the day, the dominant sounds were of their barking \u2013 and the rumble of heavy machinery, digging through piles of rubble.<\/p>\n Maybe 15 survivors, including several children, had been pulled alive from the rubble overnight, Botti said: \u201cAnd for that, there are no words. It\u2019s an emotional feeling inside, that makes you feel alive.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, the grizzled firefighter admitted, those rescued alive represented just a fraction of those trapped in the piles of fallen masonry and twisted metal.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t like to count the number of dead bodies,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are so many children.\u201d<\/p>\n Rescuers carry a person from the rubble. Photograph: Anadolu Agency\/Getty Images <\/p>\n In the early hours of the morning, Botti and his team found the body of a young boy. \u201cHe was three or four years old,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Hampering rescue efforts for Botti and the others is the continued instability of the city which, he said, was \u201cstill in serious danger\u201d. Later in the day, a major aftershock rocked the town\u2019s remains<\/a>, razing several more houses.<\/p>\n For some residents of Amatrice and their families, the firefighters were their last hope. Lea d\u2019Angela, 52, begged local police to let her into the town in search of her mother. \u201cIf she is alive, we will find her,\u201d said one of the officers. \u201cBut right now, there is nothing you can do here.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Roma](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/roma_rex_20160825.webp\")
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