It does not look like there was any earthquake activity near but some minor activity and larger 4 mag that same day in Italy unrelated.
Just an anomalous seismic burst proir to the fall of the bridge. The time line of the actual fall, has it been established?
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Genova, crolla il ponte Morandi: 31 morti, anche tre bambini
Ponte Morandi, the bridge of the A10 motorway that connects Genoa to its western side and then to Savona and Ventimiglia, collapsed this morning. At 11.50 am a stretch of the viaduct suspended at several tens of meters was mainly due to a structural collapse on the inhabited area below. According to the Civil Defense at the time of the collapse of the bridge, around thirty vehicles and ten heavy vehicles were in transit. Four extracted people live from under the rubble. The civil defense reports of 26 confirmed victims, according to sources of the Fire Brigade the budget would already be 35 dead. At the Policlinico San Martino 22 bodies have already been composed, including a 10-year-old child. According to data released by the Liguria Region, of the official deceased, 23 were found on the spot, two extracts later and one person died in the operating room. Fifteen wounded between San Martino, Galliera and Villa Scassi, including 9 in red.
A dozen missing.
Among the dead, there are also two employees of the Amiu, the environmental company of the Municipality of Genoa. These are two drivers who had registered for work and were then untraceable. Apparently, they would have been driving one of the two Porter vans and the deluge trucks that had been crushed by the rubble of the bridge in the Rialzo depot. Rescuers' research is concentrated in an area close to the railway where a sort of crater has formed. It is estimated that there are about thirty vehicles below.
The Genoa Public Prosecutor "is ready to open a dossier for multiple homicide and culpable disaster". The head prosecutor of Genoa Francesco Cozzi explains that the dossier will be borne by unknown persons, "because we do not yet know the perimeter of the tragedy".
"We are worried that the number of victims and injured will increase because the debris removal of the fallen part of the bridge is still underway," said head of the Civil Protection Department, Angelo Borrelli. No people would be involved in the houses or in transit under the structure, but only the occupants of the fallen vehicles.
The 118 hijacked all available ambulances. "The dimension is epoch-making, dozens of dead among those who fell from the viaduct who got stuck under the rubble, the firefighters along with the sanitary facilities are pulling out the patients, someone has already arrived in the hospitals of Genoa. of Lombardy and Piedmont, all hospitals are available, we are working but at this moment we do not yet have the full size of the problem ". This was stated by Francesco Bermano, director of the 118 in Genoa.
During the rescue, a gas leak forced the firefighters to evacuate the intervention area. There are a total of 440 people forced to leave their homes, a number that could increase: the Municipality of Genoa makes it known that evictions are still underway. The Civil Defense has so far evacuated 11 buildings and the situation is under constant monitoring. A part of evacuated citizens has found accommodation in an autonomous way, 34 people are housed at the Civic Center Buranello, a structure made available by the Municipality of Genoa together with 10 people rescued on the highway. Eleven people will arrive during the evening. The same proven earthquake procedures have been implemented. The highway technicians are checking the tightness of the rest of the bridge. "There is a risk that other parts of the bridge may collapse," reports one of the rescuers at work near the collapsed bridge. "For this reason we have displaced people from all the surrounding buildings".
THE INJURED
Seven serious injured people arrived at the Villa Scassi hospital in Genoa: "There are four red, traumatized, traumatized red and spinal column codes and three fractured subjects," said Asl 3 General Manager Carlo Bottaro. also know that two of the seriously injured were overwhelmed in their homes crushed by the structure, but the situation is constantly changing. "There are then traumatized psychic, that is women and children who witnessed the collapse of the bridge" added Bottaro. set up, for these patients, an ad hoc psychological and psychiatric unit.
Among the wounded of the collapse, a woman of about 40 years, Rita Giancristofaro, of Trieste but originally from Abruzzo, has undergone surgery during these hours. Hospitalized, her condition would not be particularly serious. According to what has been learned, he was only passing through Genoa, together with his companion Federico Cerne, 34, who was also injured and underwent surgery. Their conditions do not cause particular concern. "The wounded - explains Bottaro - have reported cranial traumas or crushing". Within a few hours, about fifty people showed up at the Villa Scassi's transfusion center to donate blood. The stocks, however, reassure from the hospital, "are congruous".
The bodies of the victims will be transferred to the Specialty area of the San Martino Polyclinic for the identification of the ritual. After identification, they will be moved to the morgue of the polyclinic.
The collapsed section, several tens, perhaps hundreds of meters, passes over a densely inhabited area. Most of the viaduct crashed on the bed of the Polcevera stream, but huge tracts have fallen on houses, on sheds and on the streets below. In the collapse, the warehouses of Ansaldo Energia, one of the main industries for energy production plants in Italy, have also been missed.
More than 300 firefighters are operating with 92 vehicles on the rubble of the collapsed viaduct. Sending operational sections, personal use and dog units from Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany. So far, recovery operations have involved cars that have not been crushed by debris. "Now the probably most difficult part begins, we are considering making headmasters to start digging". Rescuers involved in the recovery of survivors and injured report this.
MATTARELLA: "SCARY AND ABSOLUTE DISGRACY"
"It is a catastrophe that has struck Genoa and Italy in its entirety.On unarmed people and families have suffered a frightful and absurd disgrace.The first thought - my as well as all Italians - goes to the victims, the injured, the suffering and to the anxieties of their families, to those who are crying for their loved ones today, I wish to express my deepest sympathy, my closeness and, at the same time, the solidarity of the Republic ". The President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella writes in a note. "This is the moment of common commitment, to face the emergency, to assist the wounded, to support those affected by pain, which must be followed by a serious and severe examination of the causes of what happened", continues the president. "No authority can evade an exercise of full responsibility: the families of so many victims demand it, the communities affected by an event that will leave their mark, the conscience of our national society demands it." The Italians - Mattarella says - are entitled modern and efficient infrastructures that accompany everyday life with safety: the controls, the culture of prevention and the intelligent modernization of the communications system must always be at the center of the action of public institutions and private concessionaires, all levels "
COUNT IN GENOA: "MONITORING TO AVOID NEW TRAGEDIES"
The President of the Conte Council arrived in Genoa around 6.30 pm. With him the prefect Fiamma Spena and the head of the Civil Protection Angelo Borrelli. "It was important to come in person to understand what happened - he said - it will take some time to ascertain the causes: a tragedy of this kind is inconceivable in a modern country like ours". After a visit to the disaster site, the premier went to the prefecture. "We must immediately plan an intervention in an extraordinary way", he added at the end of the inspection. "We have to launch a monitoring plan for all the infrastructures, and we absolutely must not allow such tragedies to happen again." Already in the afternoon Conte thanked the rescue car in a post on Facebook, in which he said he was "deeply affected by the tragedy that affected Genoa" and expressed the "closeness of the whole Government to the victims of this tragedy and their relatives. ". The Minister of Infrastructures Danilo Toninelli, the Minister of the Interior Matteo Salvini and the Minister of Labor Luigi Di Maio will also be in Genoa tomorrow.
SALVINI: "COLLIVOLI IN GALERA AND PAGHINO"
? "For the tragedy of Genoa, given that Italian disasters without leaders, without guilty, we have too many, I will do everything that is humanly and governmentally possible to come up with the names and surnames of those who have gone wrong. pay all the way ". Thus the Minister of the Interior Matteo Salvini, speaking to the citizens in the province of Messina.
THE IMPACT ON THE VIABILITY
Autostrade reports on its site on the A10 Genoa-Savona the section between the A7 Milan-Genoa and Genoa Aerooporto junction in both directions has been closed. On the A10 Genoa-Savona between the junction for the A7 Genoa-Serravalle and Genoa Aereoporto, in both directions it was necessary to close the section. Within the closed section traffic is blocked with queues. Furthermore, for this reason queues have formed on the A12 Genoa-Rosignano Marittimo towards Genoa, between Genoa ESt and the Bivio for the A7 towards Genoa and on the A7 between Bolzaneto and the junction for the A10 Genoa-Savona. All the emergency vehicles are on site. The technical table of "Viabilità Italia" was activated at the Viminale, the National Coordination Center to tackle crisis situations in the field of traffic.
Around 14 o'clock the Italian railway network reported that the circulation on some lines between Genoa Rivarolo and Genova Sampierdarena, which had led to the interruption of trains from 11.40 am, was resumed on the Genoa node. In detail the Genoa-Savona-Ventimiglia line was re-activated and the Genoa Principe-Arquata Scrivia square (in Turin and Milan); the Ovada-Genoa Piazza Principe line is reactivated with slowdowns and some cancellations of regional trains while the circulation between Genoa Borzoli and Genoa Piazza Principe is still suspended.
The State Police advises not to drive along the motorways and to choose ordinary roads. He recommends avoiding the areas adjacent to the collapse of the bridge in order not to hinder rescue operations.
Railway circulation still suspended between the stations of Genoa Borzoli and Genoa Sampierdarena on the line for Ovada. Trenitalia has activated a substitute service with buses between the Alessandria area and Genoa Voltri. On the other hand, one travels on Genoa Piazza Principe - Arquata Scrivia (in the direction of Turin and Milan), but with an average delay of 60 minutes - with peaks of up to 120 - and some cancellations of regional trains.
"The Morandi Viaduct immediately presented several problematic aspects, in addition to the increase in the estimated construction costs". It is the assessment that the engineer Antonio Brencich, associate professor of reinforced concrete buildings at the University of Genoa, makes the bridge collapsed today in Genoa in an article published by Ingegneri.info on July 29 two years ago. The observations of the engineer contained in the article are strictly technical, but refer to the fact that the bridge, built in the early '60s, was from the first decades "object of deep maintenance". In 2009 there was a hypothesis of controlled demolition of the viaduct, which would have required 8 to 12 months. "La Gronda di Genova: a summary of the hypotheses of the route" is the study that Autostrade per l'Italia had carried out together with the engineering company Spea and published in February 2009. The report, drafted 9 years ago, warned about the potentials risks. "The grafting junction on the highway to Serravalle, at the eastern end of the viaduct - reads - produces daily, at peak times, queues of vehicles and the volume reached by traffic causes an intense degradation of the structure subjected to considerable stress. Viaduct has therefore been the subject of continuous maintenance for years ".
"The whole Morandi bridge will be demolished with serious repercussions on traffic and problems for citizens and companies", said Deputy Minister for Infrastructure Edoardo Rixi, this afternoon in Genoa at the Civil Protection office. "A bridge like that does not collapse for a thunderbolt or for a storm, the culprits must be found". The economic consequences of the collapse of the viaduct are still incalculable, masi predict serious damage to the port and to traffic. At the end of 2018 the construction of the Ponente tollgate should have started, a sort of ring road with a passage on Val Polcevera moved north of the collapsed viaduct. The Morandi, in the plans, would have been destined for local traffic.
CONSOLIDATION WORKS
In relation to the collapse of part of the Polcevera viaduct on the A10, Autostrade per l'Italia reports that "on the structure - dating back to the 1960s - work was underway to consolidate the viaduct slab and that, as planned, it had been installed a bridge crane to allow maintenance activities to take place ". "The work and the status of the viaduct were subject to constant observation and supervision by the Tronco Management of Genoa", assure the Autostrade.
The CEO of Autostrade per l'Italia, Giovanni Castellucci, in answering questions about the alleged danger of the bridge, said: "I do not know that the bridge was dangerous and that it should be closed". Castellucci said that he is going there and that he can not add anything else than what was written in the press release.
After the collapse of the title of Atlantia, the parent company of Autostrade per l'Italia, which until then was flat in Piazza Affari, was suspended in a volatility auction. It closed losing 5.39%, burning over 1.1 billion capitalization.
THE WITNESSES
Some witnesses who were in the car near the Morando bridge before the collapse saw "lightning strike the bridge". "It was just after 11:30 when we saw the lightning strike the bridge - said Pietro M. all'Asa - and we saw the bridge going down". The lightning hypothesis "has not been confirmed or confirmed during the operational committee", explains the Civil Protection. The director of the 118, Francesco Bermano, said: "We have received many phone calls from citizens because it came down some stuff from the bridge".
THE REACTION OF THE CITY
The mayor, Marco Bucci, told the many Genoese voices worried by the repercussions on the city: "Genoa is not on its knees, it will react and continue its growth path". Bucci, who spoke at the end of the meeting with the Civil Protection, thanked "the many Italian Municipalities and companies that have made themselves available to help us". The archbishop of Genoa, Angelo Bagnasco, announced that the diocese will offer initial hospitality to all displaced persons. "We know that there are displaced people from different homes.Today, there will be prayers in all the parishes of Genoa for the wounded victims and for the whole city".
Earthquake, Magnitude 1.6 - SWITZERLAND - 2018 August 14, 11:45:39 UTC
Earthquake, Magnitude 2.2 - SICILY, ITALY - 2018 August 14, 11:25:01 UTC
Here is what may have been the flash of light of 2 very faint burst, that Chu mentioned.
The collapsed Morandi Bridge is seen in the Italian port city of Genoa August 14, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer
Retweeted Paolo
