Quake Warnings Panic Thousands in Italy
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PISTOIA, Italy — Government warnings that a dangerous earthquake might strike soon sent 100,000 people fleeing in panic from mountain villages in central Italy, authorities said Thursday.
The warning by the Civil Defense Ministry followed a moderate quake on Wednesday and was prompted by the region’s seismic history. A second, stronger tremor occurred Thursday.
Traffic police said that most villagers drove away Wednesday night, taking few personal belongings, after the state radio and television network broadcast the warnings.
The alert was called in eight Tuscan villages in the Apennine mountains north of Pistoia and in six villages of neighboring Modena province and was to last until this morning. But officials said the immediate danger appeared over.
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