Jump to content

Earthquake in Italy


Nora

Recommended Posts

An 6.0-magnitude earthquake hit the Marche region in central Italy, just hours after a 5.4-magnitude temblor damaged buildings and cut power lines across the area. Buildings across the region have been damaged, but so far, there have been no reports of fatalities.

No casualties reported. Hopefully, as it wasn't in the night people could get out.

fingers crossed for everyone here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

57 minutes ago, Nora said:

I just heard from Daphna that there was another earthquake in Italy....:(  I hope everyine is ok!?

Thanks Nora! I am fine! I saw the chandeliers suddenly moving even though I live far from the centre of Italy. The earthquake was strongly perceived in Rome too. At least for now no victims, thank God!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, XXL said:

Awful :(

Not again

Glad you are fine Rwith Saviour

Hope anybody else who lives near the area affected is fine too

Grazie, caro, I live in Apulia, so very distant from there, but the chandeliers were moving yesterday in a scary way in my house. Confirmed no victims, some damages, but less catastrophic compared to two months ago.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

British veteran donates to Italian earthquake victims who saved his life during World War 2

British WWII veteran Eric Batteson has donated savings to earthquake victims in the Italian village where he was rescued and hidden from German forces during World War II

British WWII veteran Eric Batteson has donated savings to earthquake victims in the Italian village where he was rescued and hidden from German forces during World War II

A British veteran who was saved by an Italian family who hid him during World War II is helping to revive their tiny town destroyed by the earthquake that struck central Italy in October.

Eric Batteson, aged 97, from Chester has dipped into his life savings to donate money to the people of Colleregnone, a hamlet in the Macerata region where several communities were left in ruins by the October 30 earthquake.

“I could never repay the sort of care that they gave me,” Mr Batteson told The Telegraph from his home in Chester on Tuesday. “The way I was looked after and the danger that those people faced is something I can never forget.”

 Mr Batteson (left) during the war

As a young soldier with the 68th Medium Regiment Royal Artillery from Liverpool, Lance Bombardier Batteson fought in the North African campaign for two years.

In 1942 he was taken prisoner by the Germans in Tobruk and was transferred to the Sforzacosta prison camp in Macerata, a mountainous area where temperatures regularly drop below zero during winter.

Mr Batteson made a dramatic escape from the POW camp with two British inmates and endured days of hunger on the run before seeking refuge with peasant farmers, Pompilio and Rosa Buratti, who hid, clothed and fed him from September 1943 to February 1944.

“When we first broke out we didn't expect to trust anyone at all. We only moved at night,” Mr Batteson recalled.

“I felt like part of the family. The remarkable thing is that they have passed away but I still have a great friendship with family members who were not even born. That feeling has passed through generations." 

Nadia Buratti, granddaughter of the couple who protected Mr Batteson said: “They adopted him and treated him like a son. He is part of our family, he is like my own grandfather.”

Mr Batteson has returned to Colleregnone several times with his late wife, four daughters and grandchildren since the war to express his gratitude to the villagers who saved his life.

He attended Ms Buratti's wedding in the local Isola San Biagio church, which was damaged in the quake, and often sends gifts to her family.   

“When he heard about the earthquake he was very upset and wanted to help and express his support,” said Ms Buratti.

She said Mr Batteson had told her stories about her late grandparents who had urged him to give up his love of whistling while he was in hiding in order to avoid being detected by German troops.  “They risked their lives,” said Ms Buratti. “If they had been discovered they would have been killed.”

Just weeks after Mr Batteson fled the town in 1944, German soldiers rounded up 12 young men suspected of hiding British soldiers in a neighbouring village and executed them.

 Mr Batteson (deckchair) with some of the Italian villagers 

Mr Batteson was later recaptured by German troops as he was looking to rejoin Allied soldiers and he spent the final days of the war in a POW work camp near Hannover in Germany.

The Buratti family farm is now a bed and breakfast run by Ms Buratti but it was severely damaged in the recent quake. Mr Batteson has made a donation to the community dedicated to “the friends of Colleregnone” but declined to say how much he had given or how the money may be spent.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/03/british-war-veteran-donates-italian-earthquake-victims-saved/

 

 
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...