Resources and emergency hotline for Italy earthquake info

In the wake of the devastating earthquake in central Italy early today, people worldwide are eager to hear from loved ones living in or visiting the country. The quake in province L’Aquila, about 75 miles northeast of Rome, has left at least 150 dead and 1,500 injured.

If you have any family members or friends who are in Italy right now, we hope you have heard that they are safe and sound. If you are still attempting to make contact, travel-assistance company On Call International has set up an emergency hotline that may help: Call (800) 576-5172, a line set up in response to this earthquake.

Alternatively, you can call On Call International collect at (603) 328-1924. When phoning, be sure to have as many details on hand as possible, including traveler itineraries, cellphone numbers and hotel and tour info.

For word from “citizen journalists” on the ground, you can look for information via Twitter, using the hashtags #earthquake and #italy mentioned by blogger Jen Leo in an earlier post. If you can read Italian, see the resources included on Facebook group “Aiutiamo l’Abruzzo.”

If you know of other potentially useful resources for those concerned about family and friends in central Italy, please share in the Comments below.

- Susan Derby, Special to the Los Angeles Times

[Photo: Damage in the village of Onna; Ciro Fusco / European Pressphoto Agency]

Permalink | E-mail | Print | Add to My Trips

This entry was posted on Monday, April 6, 2009 at 1:37 pm by Susan Derby and is filed under Europe, Italy, News, Tips & Advice, earthquake. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.