3:32 am

It was a ghastly experience. The noise was that of a growling, roaring, angry beast running through the house at 3:32 am that Monday morning. It was the 6th of April the week before Easter. The earthquake had hit the least known region of Italy : Abruzzo.

Inhuman noise:

We will never forget that terrifying, inhuman noise as it rushed from room to room. The walls were cracking, plaster and objects falling. It was not as scary or important as the growling, angry noise. A second to realize what was happening and a second later it was pitch dark as the electricity went off. The growling voice continued for 2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11.12.13.14.15.16.17.18.19.20 long seconds. When the lights returned we looked out immediately from the window and saw the 1400 church of the Madonna del Rosario, the Piccolomini Castle and an antique tower opposite our house still standing. We wondered how long it would be before they fell. It was the strongest earthquake worldwide since the beginning of 2000.

L’Aquila the musical center of the Kingdom of Sicily / Naples:

We were in the small town of Capestrano located about 40 km from L’Aquila. We were the lucky ones. Our house, dated 1400, was still standing after it had grated along the rock on which it had constructed so many years ago.

Our experience is nothing compared with what happened in L’Aquila, which was also the musical center of the Kingdom of Sicily and Naples. L’Aquila had already been destroyed by earthquakes in 1300 and again in 1703. In April 2009 it is reported that 295 dead, of whom 20 children and a large number of young university students. I spoke to one of a team who were helping to extract victims and survivors. He said he would never forget the expression of terror on the faces of the dead.

It is amazing the work the dogs did in finding the dead or those still alive. To think for them it is a game and the reward is a positive stroke. 150 were pulled out alive from the dust and ruins; 1.500 were wounded, over 40,000 were made homeless, of whom 30,000 are housed in tents and 10.000 have been moved to temporary accommodation along the nearby Adriatic coast. The earthquake damaged over 130 small villages and towns. As of the 15th April there are 106 Tent camps and others are being set up.

A girl was born very soon after the earthquake in an ambulance outside the damaged Hospital, they named her Gabriella. Life continued immediately after death. Mother’s lives: Many more children would have died, had their mothers not protected them with their bodies and died instead.

The Macedonian immigrants:

It was a pleasant sunny Palm Sunday and we were working in the garden after what seemed a long winter. A few days before I had met Jimmy and his brother, who were small builders. They had come across the Adriatic from Macedonia to work in Abruzzo alongside the other immigrants, many of whom were now doing work of the 40 per cent of Abruzzese who emigrated to north and south America after the war. They did the work of shepards, bricklayers and all the manual work that Italians were so good at.

Jimmy and his brother were excellent workers. If they were late in arriving they would call. They were working on estimates for English friends of ours, they had purchased a house in Capestrano and wanted to add a stone staircase to get to a terrace.

I had fixed an appointment with an Engineer so they could work out an estimate for my brother’s tomb which were we constructing in Capestrano. We had both purchased a house in Capestrano, plus I had an olive grove and also a vegetable patch down at the river. At a certain point we said before he died, some time ago, why not purchase also a piece of land at the cemetery. As the family tomb in Maitland cemetery Cape Town South Africa was now far away for us.

Jimmy and his brother worked in our garden on the Saturday and also Sunday. We were finally building a spill tank around our fuel tank- a. legal requirement in case of earthquakes. Over 40% of Italy is on earthquake earth.

Jimmy met Juma from Mombasa, Kenya, who does domestic work for us. Juma said he was Obama’s brother as also Obama had Kenyan roots. Jimmy immediately wanted a photograph with Juma to send back to his family in Macedonia to show he had met Obama’s brother.While working in the garden I joked with Jimmy that Fiammetta, my wife, was making us work on a Sunday. He replied: “ We are here in Italy to work and send back funds to our families”.

A domani : Late afternoon they said “ A domani “ = See you tomorrow . They still had to help Fiammetta fill the flowerbed they had build. Off they went, leaving their tools behind in order to finish their work on Monday.

He had a surname:

It was Monday morning after the earthquake and they did not turn up. I was surprised. Why did they not call ? After the earthquake people were confused. I presumed they had taken the day off. I called Jimmy on his mobile, which kept ringing but no-one replied. Late afternoon a woman walked up to me and said bluntly: Do you know that the men who were working for you yesterday, died ! I was dumpfounded. During the earthquake their house, in nearby Castelnuovo, collapsed on them. It was difficult to accept …. they did not make it ! Now that they are dead, I got to know their real surname: Rifik and Demal Hasani. At the State funeral in L’Aquila there was also Imam Mohamed Nour Dachanan spoke on behalf of the 6 Islamic victims and was applauded by the 5.000 people present It was the first time that an Imam and Catholic bishops celebrated together a State funeral in Italy. Our Pope should have made the effort to travel the short distance from the Vatican to L’Aquila. In our view he missed an opportunity to be more popular.

Bleeding feet and hands:

Another immigrant from Macedonia, after his house had collapsed, bare footed, he crawled back under the ruins and dust, with his bare hands, dug out the rocks and found and pulled out his daughter. He went back a second time and was able save his wife too. His hands and feet were now blending as he dug in the ruins for his second daughter. He found her but she did not move, she was dead. He did not hesitate a second, he left his dead daughter there and charged out to pull out from under the ruins another 11 people. Only later did he go and fetch with his bleeding hands and feet his daughter and cried.

Only a week has gone by:

It seems we have been living with tremors for weeks. They say there has been over 1.000 since the main earthquake but we felt only a few. Each tremor has been terrifying as nature makes one impotent in mind and movement. Now they say the beast has moved deeper into the ground. At 3.32 that night, the earthquake was only 5 km away from us. Our three hunting dogs Chiga, Zula and Shaka sleep in our bedroom they are the first to warn us a few seconds before another is on its way.

Email: We sleep dressed, with a whistle around our necks. Good advice a friend of ours forwarded via email. What a blessing was email, as we were able contact our daughters in Dublin and Genoa a few minutes after the quake to tell them we were still standing. We received over 90 emails from friends around the world and, even if the house trembled, I kept on replying. It was a good feeling that all those friends where close to Abruzzo with their thoughts and prayers.

Do not forget a clean set of underwear. We also have a small emergency bag, if we are able to make a fast getaway. When the quake wakes you up one loses precious seconds at least 3 /4 to focus reality. With our next door neighbour who also had an emergency bag we discovered, we both had besides identity documents and credit cards but above all a clean set of underwear. No one thought of a clean shirt or whatever but we both thought if we were not able to get back in our homes, clean underwear was a must, in the emergency bag. ! People are scared if not petrified: There is now a tent camp and a camp kitchen set up near the old cemetery walls of Capestrano and most people are sleeping in cars, buses and trucks turned into bedrooms. For the time being they are terrified to return to their homes.

The other morning it was cold and they had slept badly in their cars. They were longing for a hot coffee. At 6 am when they entered their homes, it was daylight and they made for their kitchen to make a hot morning coffee. It was 6.25am while preparing coffee that a nasty tremor shook the ground again under their feet.

Rugby Players:

A promising young 21 year old rugby player Lorenzo Sebastiani known as Ciccio, died in the earthquake. L’Aquila is also known for it’s Rugby. Many players went immediately to help. One Rugby player was able to extract from a collapsing house an old gentleman. He went back to fetch his wife who was further away, she shouted not to enter but to leave her where she was as it was far too dangerous. He went back in and saved her too. When he was interviewed by TV, they said, well your physique must have helped you, he replied. “ It was not a fact of physical strength but the force of my mental state in that moment”. There is a request to name L’Aquila’s Sports Stadium Ciccio .

“Io non crollo”. Students hope to continue their studies soon. In L’Aquila which was/is a University town, students were seen wearing a T-shirt with “ Io non crollo “ = I will NOT fall down ! . An old Abruzzese woman said “ An earthquake is an unpredictable monster “ ! She was so right we heard the monster, in that dark terrifying early morning and pray it will not return, ever.