ITALY: Students die, university damaged in quake

At least eight students have died from the collapse of a dormitory at the University of L'Aquila in central Italy, following a powerful earthquake that struck last Monday, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education. The quake caused more than 250 deaths, thousands of injuries and the destruction of much of the city and its university. But the two main science buildings did not collapse, rescue worker Gianluca Ferrini - who is also a geologist at the university - told Chemical & Engineering News.

Blue-helmeted rescue workers were still searching on Wednesday for two or three students, and many students were seriously injured.

One of them is Giulio Colangeli, an economics student at the University of L'Aquila, who was admitted to an intensive care unit in Rome. His left leg is badly damaged and he is being treated for "crush syndrome" - severe trauma to the upper body that can lead to organ failure. His doctors, though, are hopeful that he will recover, reports The Times.

While most of the 70,000 residents of the city have fled to safer locations Gianluca Ferrini, the geologist, has been staying in a tent in the parking lot near the university science buildings while he works on the rescue effort, Chemical & Engineering News reports.

The basic scaffolding of the building, which houses chemistry, computer science, and experimental medicine, has remained intact, "but everything in the labs has been shaken, everything is on the floor - glassware, books, microscopes, everything," Ferrini says. A second building which houses biology, physics, mathematics, and environmental science is also still standing, but "the walls on the third floor have all fallen down".
Full report on The Chronicle of Higher Education site

Full report on the Chemical & Engineering News site

Full report on The Times site