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 early Monday.
Blue-helmeted rescue workers were still searching on Wednesday for two or three students who remained missing amid the rubble, but after more than two days, hope for their survival was dim. A series of aftershocks, especially a 5.3-magnitude tremor on Tuesday night, caused the structure, called the Casa dello Studente, to collapse further.
One of the dead students was from Greece and another from Israel, news agencies reported.
Among the more fortunate residents of the dorm was a 20-year-old who communicated his whereabouts to rescuers via cellphone. Another resident, after escaping, insisted on climbing back into the rubble to recover a computer containing his undergraduate thesis, the Adnkronos agency reported.
The ruined dormitory was one of two student residences at the university, the other of which survived with little damage, according to news reports.
On Wednesday evening, Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, announced that the government would spend $21.3-million to rebuild the ruined dormitory, according to ANSA, a news agency in Italy.
Rescue of Off-Campus Student
Most students at the university lived with family members or in modest lodgings. One off-campus resident, 20-year-old Eleanora Calesini, was rescued on Tuesday after being pinned for 42 hours under the ruins of her five-story apartment building, according to news-media reports.
Almost all of the university’s buildings were damaged or destroyed in the earthquake, which killed at least 272 people, injured more than 1,000, and left more than 28,000 homeless, according to the latest casualty figures.
Known especially for its engineering school, the university draws many of its students from Italy’s relatively poor and underdeveloped south. With more than 27,000 students and 8,000 employees, it is the principal industry in the city of L’Aquila, which has a population of 72,000 and is capital of the Abruzzo region.
“If the university dies, the city dies,” Ferdinando di Orio, the university’s rector, told a newspaper in Rome, Il Messaggero.
Mr. di Orio appealed to the Italian government’s emergency-management agency to give an effort to help the university resume its activities equal priority with aid to victims, reconstruction of housing, and repair of damaged art works and monuments.
Pier Ugo Foscolo, chairman of the university’s engineering school, told Il Messaggero that he expected the university to resume a “virtual life” on a provisional Web site shortly, and to hold graduation ceremonies at the end of this month, outdoors if necessary.
“The important thing is to give a sign of life,” Mr. Foscolo said.
Aid From Other Universities
Other Italian universities were participating in assistance efforts coordinated by the Conference of Italian University Rectors, in many cases by inviting a number of L’Aquila students to attend their institutions tuition-free, and even providing them with housing.
The University of Bologna announced a $133,000 donation to an earthquake reconstruction fund established by the rectors’ conference, and the University of Genoa encouraged its employees each to donate a one-hour share of their salary to the fund.
Institutions were also providing expertise. The University of Padua said it would send engineers and technicians to assist with damage assessment and reconstruction planning.
Mr. di Orio sounded a determined note on Wednesday, telling ANSA: “We will not move from here, we will hold classes and thesis defenses even in tents, but we will not take from this city its most vital structure. From the rector down to the last employee, we will remain here and rebuild.”
Also among the earthquake’s victims was Guido Zingari, 60, a philosophy professor at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. An expert on Leibniz and Heidegger, Mr. Zingari died Monday night after the collapse of his country house a few miles outside L’Aquila, Adnkronos reported.