Italians call for billions to be spent on quake-proofing the country after thousands left homeless by twin tremors

By Nick Squires

Italians demanded that more money be spent on making buildings resistant to earthquakes on Thursday, as the country counted the cost of twin quakes that reduced villages in the Apennines to rubble and left thousands homeless.

Several thousand people were preparing to spend a second night in community halls, sports centres or in their cars, after the earthquakes struck within two hours of each other on Wednesday evening.

The second quake was the most powerful, measuring 5.9 in magnitude. Casualties were far less severe than two months ago, when a 6.0 magnitude earthquake hit a string of villages in central Italy, leaving nearly 300 people dead.

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Geologists said that Italy was such a seismically-active country that the only option was to learn to live with the threat by strengthening buildings as much as possible with proven anti-quake measures.