Italy 'Will Build a New Town' From Rubble, PM Says

L'AQUILA, Italy, April 7, 2009 — -- One person was reported dead after a major aftershock struck in the evening near the Italian town of L'Aquila, as residents continued to come to terms with losses from Monday's devastating earthquake.

Residents reportedly fled shelters and already damaged buildings when the aftershock struck, sending chunks of concrete falling into the streets.

The "Catastrophe in Abruzzo," as it is being called, has so far claimed 235 lives, according the rescue coordination center of l'Aquila.

But amidst the grim increase in the casualty count, there were signs that the rescue operations were still yielding survivors who had managed to stay alive despite having been trapped in the rubble for over 40 hours.

One young woman, Eleonora Calesini, a 20 year-old student, was pulled out at 21:30 local time from a five-floor building on via Poggio all'Aquila where she lived with other female students. She was reported to be in good condition and was taken by helicopter to hospital.

It was an incredible stroke of luck for the young student - Eleonora suffers from hearing problems and there were fears that her condition would make finding her all the more difficult. She would have been unable to listen out for signs that attempts were being made to rescue her as she removes her hearing aid every night.

The latest temblor, rated a 5.6 by the United States Geological Survey, was felt as far away as Rome. It did not deter rescue efforts, however, as teams continued to sift through the rubble in hopes of finding survivors.

Thunderstorms and as many as 300 aftershocks have posed extra challenges to the round-the-clock rescue effort.

Overnight and this morning, workers continued to clear debris and look for survivors.

Rescue workers were still finding survivors trapped among the dead overnight. Twenty-seven hours after the 6.2 magnitude quake hit, Valeria Esposito gave the rescue workers hope as they successfully extracted her from the fallen remains of student lodgings in L'Aquila, the BBC reported.

Sniffer dogs and mechanical diggers also managed to free a young girl from the rubble near the town hall of L'Aquila. She was trapped next to the dead bodies of her mother and sister. "Thank you, thank you," she told her rescuers.

After one particularly strong tremor this morning, the Italian news agency ANSA reported that terrified people scrambled out of their cars and dodged the debris falling from the buildings. Television pictures showed rescue workers rushing out of one such building after severe shocks.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi pledged at a news conference today to "build a new town" from the rubble.

So far, 150 people have been pulled out of the rubble alive. Of the hundreds injured, 100 cases are serious, Berlusconi said.

Berlusconi also said that 34 people are still missing and are known to be buried under rubble.

He added that the search for survivors would continue for another 48 hours. Rescue operations are proceeding in "an absolutely satisfactory manner," Berlusconi told reporters.

As Berlusconi toured the damaged sites, he told reporters that he had "a long phone call" with President Obama about a U.S. offer to pick up the tab for the reconstruction of the historical monuments and churches in the area.

Berlusconi said Obama told him they would talk about it during the Italian leader's next trip to Washington.

The estimated number of people left homeless since the quake has fallen to 17,000 from 70,000 throughout the Abruzzo region; 10,000 of those are from L'Aquila itself.