Tuesday morning update, from an e-mail sent out by Gran Sasso National Laboratory Director Eugenio Coccia:
Dear friends and colleagues,
As you already know, an earthquake has devastated the area around the town of L'Aquila, Italy, causing hundreds of deaths and making thousands of people homeless. The government is deploying all the possible resources for the rescue operations, but the situation is still extremely severe.
The epicenter of the shocks lays only a few km from the site of the Gran Sasso underground laboratory.
However, fortunately, the people and the equipment of the Laboratory did not suffer damage. All the running experiments are working smoothly, and the external buildings have been essentially untouched.
I thank you for the messages of solidarity and sympathy.
Nature's The Great Beyond blog has more here;
“Gran Sasso labs and experiments have not suffered consequences of the earthquake,” says Eugenio Coccia, the centre’s director. “But of course many staff have had their houses destroyed, like so many others who live in the region.” No scientist has been recorded among the dead.
Scientific experiments are being monitored, but no major experimental work will take place until after the Easter holiday, says Coccia. Normal scientific work will begin Tuesday 14 April.
The main highway to the laboratories has been closed for safety reasons, as small quakes are still occurring. The centre has offered to shelter those left homeless by the quake in its surface facilities.
News outlets are reporting at least 207 dead, 1,500 injured -- 100 of them seriously -- and 17 still missing. Some villages in the area have been virtually flattened.
Monday's post:
The area of central Italy struck by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake this morning is home to Gran Sasso National Laboratory. The INFN particle physics lab is located in the heart of a mountain about half an hour's drive from the hard-hit medieval city of L'Aquila.
The preliminary word this morning from laboratory spokeswoman Roberta Antolini was that the laboratory appeared to be undamaged and most laboratory workers safe. The laboratory was shut down for today, at least. There is so far little detailed information on the safety of Gran Sasso staff and visiting scientists, most of whom would have been asleep in surrounding towns and villages when the quake struck at 3:32 a.m.
As of this writing, news outlets were reporting 150 people dead, thousands injured and tens of thousands homeless. Rescue workers with specially trained dogs continue to search the ruins for survivors. Many centuries-old buildings and churches in the historic center of L'Aquila were heavily damaged or destroyed, along with modern buildings, a student dormitory and the university hospital, and some streets are impassable due to fallen rubble. See a Times Online report and slide show here, just one of many wrenching media accounts.
We'll keep you updated as we hear more about the condition of the laboratory and the well-being of its people. Our hearts are with them today.
