Early this morning much of Rome was awoken by a fairly large earthquake. It was just after 3:30 when I woke up, got out of bed and stared at all of my things swaying in the breeze. It lasted about what seemed like five to ten seconds (edit: it was thirty seconds!). I really don't know, it could have been two seconds and but it certainly seems longer when your at the mercy of Mother Nature, herself.
My roommate, Jenn, has family from Abruzzo, the region that was hit and more specifically from l'Aquila. She didn't feel the earthquake herself (probably felt like a normal drunk walk!) and when she arrived home at 4am her parents were calling her to get in touch with her family in that area. So for the next two hours she was on the phone trying to get hold of her relatives. The problem was that everyone in Italy was trying the same thing so getting a line was not easy and was frustrating for Jenn, her family in New York and her relatives in Abruzzo. Fortunately, everyone in her family is okay, in terms of health. There is massive structural damage to the area and to many people's homes and at this point, they aren't allowed to go back home. She has an aunt whose roof fell in and cousins with a hotel that is closed for now because of damage. Many people slept outside and will have to find alternate means of shelter for quite some time it looks like. Unfortunately, there are many people that died and certainly in such a small close knit town, her family will suffer greatly from the loss of friends.
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