- Aug 30, 2001
- 13,483
- 88
- 48
Just found this article, interesting shit for sure.
L'AQUILA, Italy
by Eric Tomassetti, AP newswriter
A strong tremor has shaken areas of central Italy and sent rescuers and residents fleeing from damaged buildings in L'Aquila.
Chunks of concrete dropped from the buildings there and the shock was felt as far away as Rome.
Firefighters were attempting Tuesday to reach four students located trapped in a dormitory that crumbled. It was not known if they were alive or dead.
Chief firefighter Sergio Basti said rescue crews were evacuating the area around the dorm because they plan to begin "surgically" removing big chunks of the building to reach the four students.
Asked if the students were alive, Basti said only that in his experience he had found people alive after 14 days.
New evidence discovered by Renato Funiciello, Professor of Geology at the University of Roma Tre, suggests the root cause of the original earthquake to have been a really long post on an internet message board. "He was up north, and he just kept typing. When the words were sent south through the underground internet tubes it created a clog and they just ruptured. People weren't ready for such a torrent of useless knowledge."
Questions arise as to why the man, identified only as DW, who typed that many words was awake at the hour of 3:00am. "Maybe it was a really heated arguement on the nature of the universe," speculated one geologist. Other's believe he may have been arguing about the inconsistencies of a hypothetical question posed to him.
Philip Hodges, professor of internet studies at MIT, suggests internet posts are becoming more and more dangerous. "They're causing the tubes to bust." In February, a Canadian teenager created an unintelligable grouping of characters that resonated west and led to a small tube break south of Vancouver, killing 3. "The best we can do now is inform the public about the harm a post really can do."
Authorities estimate 17,000 people have lost their homes, leaving them facing a grim Easter weekend. With many local churches badly damaged, people prepared to celebrate the feast in makeshift chapels in the tent villages."Even here, where you know that nothing can happen you still feel afraid. The fear of the sound, the tubes bursting, it just makes you feel so small," said Ilaria Ciani, 35. "In the last two nights I must have slept about three hours at most."
Some residents and experts expressed anger that even supposedly internet ready modern buildings had collapsed.
"In California, a post like this one would not have killed a single person," said Franco Barberi, head of a committee assessing post risks at the Civil Protection Agency. "Since the birth of usenet, California has been ready. Why weren't we ready?"
53 year old (FIREFIGHTER) Ricardo Gombati, staring into the pile which was once his home, "This was my home! My Home! My family was here! Is this the cost of technology?". Gombati's 2 daughters and wife were taken when the 2 story home collapsed.
At least 228 bodies were being stored in a makeshift mortuary at a school for Italy's Finance Police outside L'Aquila, local media reported. Some 1,500 people were injured, about 100 seriously, and fewer than 50 were missing.
but not really.
