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Earthquake Strikes the Friuli

By “Awake!” correspondent in Italy

“THE cement floor began to shake violently. I tried to remain standing but finally fell to the floor, as did others. The noise became ever more deafening, as if debris were falling upon us. Suddenly the lights went out and a certain panic began to develop among us. Small children kept crying out, ‘Daddy! Daddy!’”

That is how Anacleto Martin of Gemona, Italy, described the main tremor of a devastating earthquake that struck the Friuli locality on the evening of May 6, 1976. The Friuli comprises an area of some 2,767 square miles (7,166 square kilometers) in northern Italy. It is part of the province of Udine.

The earthquake rocked 117 communities. Many hundreds died and the destruction of property was tragic. About 100,000 persons lost their homes. Some of the houses collapsed; others were left in such poor condition that they had to be demolished. One man was observed standing before his half-destroyed home, head in hands, sobbing, “Twenty-five years! Twenty-five years!” He had worked that long abroad to be able to build his home. Now it was ruined.

If you lived through an earthquake, when the rumbling stopped, what would be on your mind? After thanking God for permitting you to remain alive, likely your thoughts would turn toward loved ones and other companions. Did they too survive? That question weighed on the minds of Jehovah’s Witnesses after the quake. A traveling minister who serves several congregations in the Friuli area reports:

“By 6 a.m. the following morning news reports indicated that the earthquake had been of catastrophic proportions. I headed by car for towns where our brothers lived. By 8 a.m. I arrived at the provincial capital of Udine. For the most part the city was deserted; its inhabitants had found refuge in outlying areas. Udine was not badly damaged. After learning that all of Jehovah’s Witnesses there had survived and were well, I headed toward San Daniele.

“There I met Lino Culotta, an elder in the local congregation. He assured me that all the Witnesses in that town were alive, though some had lost their homes and were forced to live out in the open. On my way to Gemona, farther north, I passed through Osoppo, where I knew of four families of Witnesses. This town had been isolated by authorities. Nevertheless, I succeeded in reaching the home of Amabile Tandoi. Though damaged, the house had not collapsed. Tandoi, however, was not there, and this suggested to me that he had survived.

“All around I witnessed heartrending scenes. It was horrifying to see men digging persons half alive out of the ruins. Many others were not so fortunate.

“I pressed on to the town of Gemona, among the places hardest hit by the quake. How had my fellow Christians fared in this area? It was impossible to reach the town by automobile, for ruins blocked all the streets. I left the car and proceeded on foot. My landmark for finding the Kingdom Hall was a nearby Catholic church. This church, however, lay in ruins. A house on one side of the church was partly destroyed and the next house had crumbled.

“I knew that the Kingdom Hall, where Jehovah’s Witnesses were holding a meeting when the earthquake struck, was at the next corner. It seemed to me unlikely that many could have survived. I went on with my heart in my mouth. Then I saw it! The building containing the Kingdom Hall was still standing, whereas everything around it had collapsed. Even books in the display window were still there. No Witnesses were there. But this indicated that here, too, they had survived.”

When the Quake Hit

The epicenter of the earthquake was at Tolmezzo. Renato Abramo, presiding elder of the congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses in that town, reports: “Our Kingdom Hall is situated on the ground floor of a new, three-story condominium. When the quake hit, we were holding our usual Thursday night meeting, with twenty-four present.

“The meeting had already started when we began to feel the first tremor. That was a mild one. When it was over, Maurizio Rossi cried out, ‘Come here!’, pointing to a beam supported by a pillar of reinforced concrete.

“The second tremor was much worse. Suddenly the lights went out. Thoughts of dying or at least suffering from live burial under ruins flashed through my mind. I asked myself: ‘Where will the first object hit me? In the head? On the left or right shoulder? On the side?’ I closed my eyes and prayed to Jehovah. In fact, all of us did the same thing. The prayer said out loud was mutually comforting. Though clearly in danger of death, we took comfort in the Bible’s promise of a resurrection.​—John 5:28, 29; Acts 24:15.

“But just when it seemed that all was to cave in on us, the tremor ended. Delighted to be alive, we fled into the street and made our way to a nearby camp. There we lit a fire and spent the night.”

Help Pours In

The next day aid began to pour in to the devastated area. Not only Italians, but people from nations bordering Italy volunteered their services. As for Jehovah’s Witnesses, those in Trieste arranged to provide food, clothing and money for fellow Christians who had suffered loss from the catastrophe. A center for coordinating relief work was set up at Udine, where one of the elders volunteered the use of his home. The Rome branch office of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society formed a committee to expedite this work. “It was a moving sight,” remarks one of the volunteers. “Witnesses from all nearby congregations and even from Austria and Germany came to help.”

From hard-hit Gemona, Anacleto Martin relates: “Brother Montori returned to the apartment above the Kingdom Hall. He helped the eighty-year-old father of the landlord down to the street and to a safe place in the country. Other Witnesses busied themselves trying to rescue persons buried under the ruins of nearby houses. The following morning each of us separated to find out what, if anything, remained of our homes. The day after that, help began arriving from our Christian brothers living close to the area. The provisions included much-needed tents.”

Renato Abramo of Tolmezzo reports: “Due to the repeated tremors, it seemed wise for us to remain in the open. I pitched my tent and shortly we got another tent. Some of us slept in the tents; others in cars. The following Monday we were delighted at the arrival of a truck bearing the words ‘Watch Tower Aid.’ Here were Witnesses bringing us food, tents, medicines, covering. Thus we were able to pitch additional tents for ourselves and for other Witnesses from nearby villages, and also for some of our neighbors with whom we were happy to share what we had.”

A traveling representative says of the Witnesses’ relief coordinating center at Udine: “I’ve seen so much material arrive at this house that it would be difficult to take inventory. The readiness to help on the part of Jehovah’s Witnesses from other cities and other countries was indeed moving. The commodities that poured in included even diapers for babies. Two sisters served as interpreters to overcome the language problem for volunteers from Austria and Germany. Overwhelmed with appreciation, we asked what we, in turn, might do for those who had come such long distances to help us. What about a plate of spaghetti? It was the least we could do for them.”

Something More Important

In the midst of the hustle and bustle of caring for one another’s food, clothing, shelter and other material needs, Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Friuli area concerned themselves with something that they considered even more important. From Gemona comes this report:

“We arranged to transfer the chairs and other furnishings of the Kingdom Hall to San Daniele, and on May 16, in a large hangar built by brothers, we held our public Bible lecture and Watchtower study.” Renato Abramo relates concerning the Tolmezzo area: “By the Sunday following the earthquake we were in position to hold our first meeting under the tent.” A report from the Watch Tower Society’s branch office at Rome states: “Almost all the affected congregations were able to hold their regular meetings on the Sunday following the quake. In one location four large tents accommodating about 100 persons served, not only as dormitories, but also as Kingdom Halls.”

What was the overall effect of the earthquake on Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Friuli area ? Housing presented a problem. The homes of some sixty-four families either collapsed or were damaged so badly as to require demolition.

On the positive side, none of Jehovah’s Witnesses died or were seriously hurt. Their attitude toward what had happened was well expressed by an elder involved in the relief work: “It is my hope that what has taken place does not happen again. On the other hand, working to lessen the suffering of fellow humans has been a pleasure. We look forward to the establishment in the near future of God’s new order, where suffering, calamity and death will be no more.”​—Rev. 21:3-5.

[Blurb on page 8]

An eyewitness report from northeastern Italy

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“It was horrifying to see men digging persons half alive out of the ruins. Many others were not so fortunate.”

[Blurb on page 10]

“The building containing the Kingdom Hall was still standing, whereas everything around it had collapsed.”

[Blurb on page 11]

“it was a moving sight to see how Witnesses from all nearby congregations and even from Austria and Germany came to help.”

[Map on page 9]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

AUSTRIA

TOLMEZZO

GEMONA

OSOPPO

SAN DANIELE

UDINE

WHERE THE EARTHQUAKE STRUCK