As rescuers continue to comb the Abruzzo earthquake disaster, the hope for finding survivors has dimmed to near darkness. Even as a 5.6 aftershock shook the city of L'Aquilla, a city once home to more than 70,000 people, the statistics continue to mount:

• 228 Confirmed fatalities
• 15 people minimum confirmed missing
• 40,000 homeless (out of 70,000 total)
• 13,000 buildings destroyed

  (source: London Times database)

The ancient Italian city is known for its Romanesque, Gothic, Boroque and Renaissance architecture. Aerial video showed roofs missing from modern buildings, old churches collapsed, and the exterior structures of medieval buildings lying as crumbled piles of stone on the ground. But most people who lived there were not housed in historic buildings. And while reaction to the government's response has been generally favorable, there are some important lessons to take away. Franco Barberi, a geologist who  visited the quake zone, was videotaped walking through an evacuation center. He looked around and said, "an earthquake like this in California would not have provoked a single death." In fact, experts are saying the real tragedy in this case was the lack of preparation for a powerful earthquake.

The quake, a 6.3 magnitude that was less powerful than the 1994 Northridge earthquake, ripped through L'Aquilla and several other towns in a 230 square mile grid in central Italy early Monday. It was the most destructive quake to rip Italy in more than 30 years. With no formal civilian response program, people did what they could. Many injuries were caused as people ran outside of shaking buildings and were struck by falling debris. And, as is often the case, the first responders were civilians, but the most they could do was pull stones from collapsed buildings and search for visible victims. "After a major earthquake, the fire department may not get there for a long time, " says retired LAFD Assistant Chief and CERT co-founder Frank W. Borden. "The real first responders are civlians, and this is why it's so important to be trained in basic first aid, fire supression, and rescue." Borden was part of a task force that visited Japan to study quakes and while there, a major quake provided a first-hand look at the value of preparation. "We couldn't believe how well prepared the Japanese were," Borden recalled. "It really brought home the importance of creating a proper program here in Los Angeles."

In L'Aquilla, more than 100 people remain in serious condition Thursday morning, four days after the quake. Italian authorities say the toll will take months to sort out. "For now, the needs are basic. The people in the camps, they don't have toothbrushes, they don't hvae toothpaste," said Massimo Cialenta, the mayor of L'Aquilla. "You can't find a place to buy cigarettes or get a coffee."

Meanwhile, here in California, authorities and the community continue to plan for the next big earthquake to hit southern California. CERT is offering a refresher course on May 2nd, and the Disaster Preparednes Unit of the Los Angeles Fire Department is working with multiple agencies evaluating how the city should respond when the earth begins to shake. The recent "Great Shakeout" drill was based on the San Andreas fault ripping (7.8 magnitude) from the southernmost end. Such a quake would dwarf the Italian rupture,and would likely topple more than 1,500 buildings and start up to 1,600 fires in Los Angeles alone. The November drill had more than five million people in southern California participate, and future events are being planned, including a statewide drill in October of 2009. With a recent swarm of small quakes along the southern end of the San Andreas, today isn't soon enough to be prepared.

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