Berlusconi: We Are A Proud People ...

The earthquake that hit central Italy Monday made 207 dead, 15 missing and over 1,000 injured, 100 severely injured, said Tuesday the head of government Silvio Berlusconi during a press conference in L'Aquila.

•     Concerning the persons injured, the head of government said that their number was slightly higher than 1000, of whom 500 are hospitalized and on the latter, 100 are in serious condition.
  
      He added that 150 people had been extracted alive from the ruins of the earthquake since Monday.
  
      We have identified 190 victims and 17 unidentified, so for now a total of 207 dead, Silvio Berlusconi said, adding that more than 7,000 members of the state personnel (fire, etc.) are involved in relief in addition to volunteers.
  
      He indicated that research for possible survivors would still continue for 48 hours.
  
      Dressed in black, looking tired, the chief government estimated that relief operations were conducted in an entirely satisfactory manner.
   
      He announced that 20 camps of tents equipped with 16 field kitchens which will accommodate 14,500 persons were to be installed by Tuesday evening.
  
      I thank the foreign countries for their solidarity, but we urge them not to send their help here. We can only respond to the needs, we are a proud people and have the means and we thank them but we do it alone.
  
      Silvio Berlusconi also announced that 1500 technicians begin Wednesday the control of buildings in the area affected by the earthquake.
  
      The most difficult phase begins tomorrow because we will monitor the homes to verify damage. We will check each room one after another, in thousands of homes. Approximately 1500 highly skilled technicians will be responsible for this work, he said.
  
      
  Ennaharonline/ M. Oudina