Amid the ruins of towns and villages across central Italy, aid workers continue to search the rubble, looking for possible survivors of last Wednesday’s devastating earthquake.
The quake, which claimed 290 lives and left nearly 400 wounded, leveled entire neighborhoods in a communities northeast of Rome.
In the town of Amatrice, home to some 2,600 people, workers from the Italian Red Cross are treating survivors and sifting through the ruins inside the “red” zones – areas where buildings were damaged or destroyed.
Arutz Sheva caught up with Italian Red Cross worker Francesco Barbero at the scene of the rescue operation in Amatrice.
“We are in Amatrice in Lazio. This is the emergency camp of the Italian Red Cross. In this camp [we] are leading all the rescue efforts from our association that is providing relief to the people in the camp… [as well as teams] digging in the ruins inside the ‘red’ areas of the town.”
“The area affected is very big around here. Behind me is the advanced medical post where the medical people from the Italian Red Cross is still providing care to people affected by the earthquake.”
“We don’t have after four days any more emergency. We are now dealing with the chronic diseases this population has [as a result of the disaster], and we are trying to give what we can in terms of drugs and medication that they have lost inside of their buildings that collapsed.”
“On the other side of the advanced medical post is the command post, where all the decisions are taken and where the management of the Italian Red Cross is coordinating their effort here in Amatrice.”