The magnitude-6.3 quake hit L'Aquila and several towns covering 230 square miles in central Italy early Monday, leveling buildings and reducing entire blocks to piles of rubble. It was the worst quake to hit Italy in three decades.The death toll has risen to 272, and six bodies have not yet been identified. Sixteen of the dead were children. Of the injured, 100 remained in serious condition.
Madonna pledged $500,000 in quake relief, said the mayor of Pacentro, the mountainside village where two of the pop star's grandparents were born.
One 98-year-old survivor, rescued by firemen in the hamlet of Tempera, 30 hours after quake, impressed Italy with her fortitude.Maria D'Antuono said in an interview on private Italia Uno TV network that while she lay in her bed, surrounded by pieces of fallen plaster, she passed the time by crocheting.
When firefighters arrived to help her out of her home, she ate some crackers, and then told her rescuers, "At least let me comb my hair" before she was brought outside.
