Order of Malta assists in earthquake relief efforts

(Vatican Radio) Rescue teams from all over Italy are working around the clock in the hopes that more survivors will be found under the rubble following a 6.2 magnitude earthquake that hit the Lazio, Abruzzo and Marche regions on Wednesday morning.

One crew that has been sent to Amatrice, one of the worst affected areas, is the Italian Relief Corps of  the Sovereign Order of Malta.

An assessment team made up of five volunteers, including a doctor and a nurse has joined the staff of Italy’s Civil Protection in the rescue effort and is providing medical care to survivors.

One of those volunteers is Giorgio Minguzzi who spoke to Vatican Radio about the Order’s relief activities and the devastation he witnessed.

Listen to Lydia O’Kane’s interview with Giorgio Minguzzi

“Now we have 64 volunteers, managing the local sports hall where we host 230 persons during the night”, Giorgio said. “In the sports hall we are also managing all the stocking of spontaneous donations, food stuffs and basic necessities and so on...” “On the rescue side we have several search and rescue dogs in action right now.”

He also explained that entering certain areas and reaching certain structures in Amatrice was still very dangerous and that people need to be well trained for a situation like this.  …“helping is a very tricky task, good will is absolutely not enough…” Giorgio also said, that the aftershocks are very dangerous. “Amatrice is like a worst scenario and every shock can generate a new collapse…”