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Tue 04 Apr 2010Thousands gather in L'Aquila a year after quake
THOUSANDS GATHERED in and around the historic centre of the Abruzzo town of L’Aquila last night as survivors recalled the earthquake which devastated the town exactly one year ago, killing 308 people and leaving 60,000 homeless. As church bells rang out, the names of victims were read aloud in the town’s central Piazza del Duomo.
Last year’s earthquake was marked last night by a series of concerts, vigils, candlelit processions and a series of highly symbolic moments when sections of the still abandoned centro storico were illuminated. Even after a year, the earthquake prompts bitter polemics: more than 5,000 people are still living in temporary accommodation, mainly in hotels in L’Aquila and on the Adriatic coast.
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