Rescue workers ended their search for survivors on Wednesday after a second killer earthquake in northeastern Italy claimed 17 lives and caused millions of euros of damage. While aftershocks as large as 3.8 magnitude continuing to shake the region, thousands of jittery survivors fearful of further tremors stayed close to camps where they had sought shelter and clung together for comfort. Tuesday’s 5.8-magnitude quake, which centred 60 kilometres (35 miles) east of Parma and left 250 injured, hit just nine days after 6.0-magnitude quake killed six and left thousands homeless in the same region. “Rescue workers have now called off their search,” a spokeswoman for Italy’s Civil Protection Agency told AFP. As the dust settled, tired and miserable evacuees said they could not take it anymore. “It’s like living through the war again… We’re constantly frightened there will be another big quake,” said Ester, 89, who has been in a tent camp since the first quake on May 20 along with hundreds of other desperate people. “Until yesterday, we had hope. People had begun to work in the factories again… but the new earthquake knocked us flat,” her daughter Serenella said. Italy’s Confindustria association in Modena said damage caused by Tuesday’s quake was likely to cost 500 million euros ($622 million), while the Coldiretti farming association gave a similar figure for the agricultural sector. The financial fallout for the heavily industrialised region is a severe blow for debt-ridden Italy, which entered into recession at the end of last year. The government said it was suspending taxes in the areas affected and would try to reboot the economy by lowering interest rates on loans. Wednesday morning found shocked residents gaping in dismay at collapsed houses, historic buildings with holes gashed in their sides and razed churches in once picturesque towns scattered across the countryside near Modena. “Everything happened so fast, in about seven to eight seconds. I don’t even remember,” said Daniel, three of whose colleagues died when their factory collapsed. “I’m grief-stricken, speechless. I have no tears left to shed.” Those among the weary, dust-covered evacuees who failed to find a place in the government’s overflowing emergency tent camps set up rickety shelters in gardens or slept in cars or on park benches, unwilling to go back indoors. Others bunked down in specially-prepared train carriages. “We’re more comfortable here compared to other places, it’s better, safer,” a frazzled-looking Hussein Mzhar from Pakistan told AFP, after spending the night on board a train with his brother, sister-in-law and two children.
