ENGLISH DEYEA NEWS

REUTER | L'AQUILA, Italy – Italy held a state funeral Friday for victims of its worst earthquake in three decades, as the death toll climbed to 289 and survivors voiced anger that houses simply collapsed.

Mourners attend the state funeral ceremony following the earthquake in Aquila April 10, 2009. Weeping relatives gathered on Friday for a state funeral for victims of Italy's worst earthquake in three decades, as the death toll from Monday's disaster reached 287. REUTERS/Giampiero Sposito (ITALY DISASTER)

Thousands of mourners gathered before 205 coffins, many of them covered by flowers and photos of the dead, laid out in rows on the parade ground of a police academy in the mountain city of L'Aquila, the worst hit by Monday's 6.3 magnitude quake.

Small white caskets with the bodies of children lay on their parents' coffins, some with a favorite toy placed on top. The youngest was a five-month-old boy, killed with his mother.

"There is a lot of sadness today, but also a lot of anger," said Piero Faro, who came to pay his respects to family friend Paola Pugliesi, 65, who died with her son Giuseppe, 45. "Their building simply disintegrated. This should not have happened."

Some mourners kissed the coffins and were comforted by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi before a Catholic mass led by the second highest priest in the Vatican, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

"I feel spiritually present in your midst and share your anguish," said a message read out from Pope Benedict.

Flags flew at half mast on a national day of mourning, shops lowered shutters, airports stopped take-offs for a minute's silence and traffic wardens removed their bright jackets.

"I feel bitter inside for the people crying for 300 dead so we have closed the shop for them, for what it's worth," said Rome shopkeeper Augusto Costa.

STARTING OVER

Five days after the earthquake, rescuers were still sifting through the rubble. A 53-year-old woman and her teenage daughter were found dead in the wreckage of their home overnight.

But the Civil Protection agency said the search was almost over. Firefighters accompanied some people into their homes to retrieve personal items as police guarded against looters.

Violent aftershocks, some felt in nearby Rome, continued to shake Abruzzo region overnight, terrifying 17,000 people living in tent villages. Thousands more are being put up in hotels.

"We thank the people of Abruzzo for their seriousness, civility, dignity and composure," said Berlusconi. "Today we pay homage to their dead, who are our dead."

"Beneath the rubble can be felt the wish to start over, rebuild and dream once more," said Cardinal Bertone, voicing the hope of "rebirth" which Christians celebrate on Easter Sunday.

But some survivors did not find much comfort in religion.

"Now the professionals of prayer are praying, saying mass. Everybody prays: popes, archpopes, bishops, archbishops, excellencies, eminences, Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and yet Jesus Christ sends us an earthquake," said Francesco Pagani, an aged survivor sitting in one of the emergency camps.

Attention is now starting to turn to the reconstruction of a region that relies on tourism, farming and family firms. More than half the companies in Abruzzo have been put out of action.

One estimate put the damage at up to 3 billion euros ($4 billion), but its impact on Italy's nearly 2-trillion-euro economy, already mired in recession, is expected to be limited.

The government has announced an enquiry into the tragedy after President Giorgio Napolitano said shoddy construction may be behind the collapse of modern buildings, including a hospital and student hostel, that should have been earthquake-proof.

"People need to search their consciences," he said.

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