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Central Italy Earthquake Reduces Towns To Rubble As Death Toll Rises

Rescue workers retrieve a dead body in a damaged building on Aug. 24, 2016 in Accumoli, Italy. (Giuseppe Bellini/Getty Images)
Rescue workers retrieve a dead body in a damaged building on Aug. 24, 2016 in Accumoli, Italy. (Giuseppe Bellini/Getty Images)

Italian Premier Matteo Renzi says the death toll from the quake that hit central Italy has risen.

Renzi spoke Wednesday evening in the provincial capital of Rieti after visiting rescue crews and survivors in the hard-hit town of Amatrice and flying over other demolished towns in nearby Le Marche region.

— Rainews (@RaiNews) August 24, 2016

Renzi said 34 people died in Le Marche, the rest from the other towns. He also says the identification of quake bodies was a difficult process.

Here & Now‘s Meghna Chakrabarti gets the latest from Philip Pullella, a senior correspondent for Reuters in Rome.

The Associated Press contributed reporting to this article.

Guest

Philip Pullella, senior correspondent covering Italy and the Vatican for Reuters. He tweets @PhilipPullella.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.