DUTCH FAMILY: Italy Earthquake Jolted Us Awake

Marc Woldberg from Hattem was “literally shaken awake” by an earthquake that left the that left towns in the center of Italy in ruin. The death toll of the 6.2 magnitude earthquake is slowly rising, wit six fatalities reported so far, none of whom were Dutch, AD reports.

“Wow, literally shaken awake at 3:45 a.m. by an earthquake and we appear to be almost exactly at the epicenter! What an experience! Fortunately, everything’s ok”, Marc Woldberg writes on Facebook. He is in Italy with his family on holiday.

Later to NOS he said that his son woke up in a panic, but his daughter slept through it. “The whole bed shook back and forth, and also the towels”, he said. “We knew right away it was a quake because we already experienced a mild one in southern Netherlands. We also felt the aftershock half an hour later.” Woldberg didn’t notice much damage. “Outside everything looked like yesterday. There are not many people around us. So we went to sleep again.”

By around 8:00 a.m. the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and emergency center ANWB received no reports of any Dutch victims in the earthquake. The Ministry in The Hague is working with the Dutch embassy in Rome to try and track all Dutch visiting the affected area, a spokesperson said to AD.

The quake happened in a peaceful region, known to be favored by tourists. The epicenter was located in the picturesque town of Norcia, a famous tourist attraction in Umbria. The cities Accumoli, Amatrice, Posta and Arquata del Toro were hit quite severely. According to Amatrice Mayor Sergio Pirozzi, not much is left of his village and people are stuck under the rubble. His village counts about 3 thousand inhabitants. “The roads are closed in and to the village. Half the town is gone.” he said.