# Earthquake Status in Ofena & Capestrano



## miolas

Hello all ! 

Just returned yesterday to Finland from Ofena where we were when the earthquake came. 

To those of you who have wondered about the state of these two villages on this site, I am happy to inform that the villages survived very well: People & houses are almost as before. In Ofena & Capestrano, you could not see anything major in the streets and none of the houses in these villages collapsed, as the center of the quake was 40-45km away. 

But naturally we well felt the shoke and it was quite a wake-up at 4pm in the morning. There was some aftershokes, but a lot smaller. In a way, the afershokes are a good sing as at means that the earth in calming down again. This is really something that happens once in 100 years, we just happened to be in the area now. 

There might be some minor cracks inside the houses, so a lot of locals are having officials to come & check the status one-by-one. But on the streets in Ofena you could not see anything major. In Capestrano, the church & the food store (in front of gelateria) on the piazza had some cracks, but houses are all fine, in most parts. 
The first nights a lot of locals slept in the cars as they were afraid, but now the life is starting to normalize again. 

Our own houses in Capestrano & Ofena are OK and we are still planning to stay there ourselves & rent them. My sister is returning to the area in May, myself in July. For the house in Capestrano, rental is possible only once the the bedroom paiting is finised. Due to these events, we put the works on hold this week & will have it done "remotely" during April&May. 

For the moment, to help the less unfortunate people of the area of Aquila, we have offered our two houses (Ofena & Capestrano) to be used for free by some of the families left homeless in Aquila. We have decided to do this during April & May, for the time life normalises in the area. We are co-ordinating this via Giacinta (my sisters neighbourg in Ofena) and local civil service. As in these cases also malicious actions often arise, we prefere to go via people we know well & use the official city channels. I wish to emphasise that this is something we thought ourselves of, not something that someone would have suggested to us. It just felt as a natural thing to do after what we experienced.

In case you do not need your own holiday home during these two months and would be interested to give for free to this use, you can contact me via miajolas at yahoo dot com

I also have a Facebook site (search Mia JOLAS) in case, the email should not work. 

If you want to help, via Facebook (search Abruzzo) you can also find a lot of associations that deliver immediate & more long-term help to Aquila area. So far they have delivered a lot of food supplies, blakets & cloathes to the Aquila area. Something one would surely appriciate if one found oneself in the same situation. 

I think personally I will go for Red Cross as they are very professional and reliable in this kind of actions and also focus on long-term help. 

At least according to what I saw there this week, the most urgent need currently would be shelter near Aquila. Having a temporary place to stay would allow the local people to stay in the are and e.g. continue to work in Aquila.

Warm thoughts to all of you & people of Aquila from Finland,
- Mia J.


----------



## Barry

Thanks for the report Mia

Barry


----------



## dgudorf

miolas said:


> Hello all !
> 
> Just returned yesterday to Finland from Ofena where we were when the earthquake came.
> 
> To those of you who have wondered about the state of these two villages on this site, I am happy to inform that the villages survived very well: People & houses are almost as before. In Ofena & Capestrano, you could not see anything major in the streets and none of the houses in these villages collapsed, as the center of the quake was 40-45km away.
> 
> But naturally we well felt the shoke and it was quite a wake-up at 4pm in the morning. There was some aftershokes, but a lot smaller. In a way, the afershokes are a good sing as at means that the earth in calming down again. This is really something that happens once in 100 years, we just happened to be in the area now.
> 
> There might be some minor cracks inside the houses, so a lot of locals are having officials to come & check the status one-by-one. But on the streets in Ofena you could not see anything major. In Capestrano, the church & the food store (in front of gelateria) on the piazza had some cracks, but houses are all fine, in most parts.
> The first nights a lot of locals slept in the cars as they were afraid, but now the life is starting to normalize again.
> 
> Our own houses in Capestrano & Ofena are OK and we are still planning to stay there ourselves & rent them. My sister is returning to the area in May, myself in July. For the house in Capestrano, rental is possible only once the the bedroom paiting is finised. Due to these events, we put the works on hold this week & will have it done "remotely" during April&May.
> 
> For the moment, to help the less unfortunate people of the area of Aquila, we have offered our two houses (Ofena & Capestrano) to be used for free by some of the families left homeless in Aquila. We have decided to do this during April & May, for the time life normalises in the area. We are co-ordinating this via Giacinta (my sisters neighbourg in Ofena) and local civil service. As in these cases also malicious actions often arise, we prefere to go via people we know well & use the official city channels. I wish to emphasise that this is something we thought ourselves of, not something that someone would have suggested to us. It just felt as a natural thing to do after what we experienced.
> 
> In case you do not need your own holiday home during these two months and would be interested to give for free to this use, you can contact me via miajolas at yahoo dot com
> 
> I also have a Facebook site (search Mia JOLAS) in case, the email should not work.
> 
> If you want to help, via Facebook (search Abruzzo) you can also find a lot of associations that deliver immediate & more long-term help to Aquila area. So far they have delivered a lot of food supplies, blakets & cloathes to the Aquila area. Something one would surely appriciate if one found oneself in the same situation.
> 
> I think personally I will go for Red Cross as they are very professional and reliable in this kind of actions and also focus on long-term help.
> 
> At least according to what I saw there this week, the most urgent need currently would be shelter near Aquila. Having a temporary place to stay would allow the local people to stay in the are and e.g. continue to work in Aquila.
> 
> Warm thoughts to all of you & people of Aquila from Finland,
> - Mia J.


Thank you for the update. I will share my son Jonathan Gudorf who owns and apartment in Ofena. There is another Ofena forum as well. I sent you a response to your Facebook account.


----------



## ELISA64

Thank you Mia for the update.

I have sent a care package to the Red Cross for Sara Luce. Her story touched my heart!

Take care!


----------



## ELISA64

I forgot to mentiON....

Please be careful who you intrust with your house key... we left it with a trusted person (so I believed) and had a bad experience.

Just wanted to pass this on.


----------



## flawed

Mia, 

I can't believe that you were actually there ............

it's nice to see a first hand report. I had a look at the link Barry put up to Carrufo but I don't really know the town so nothing looked familiar. I didn't see any damage but a lot of stuff was taped. 
I was surprised, because I thought the people looked ok, not too stressed. 

Glad to hear both your place and your sister Lauras place are ok. I thought it was a good idea offering your house for temporary accomodation. I thought of that too, but I dont think Ihave services yet.I was in the process of instructing a builder. 

Thank goodness the earthquake didn't happen in winter. So they are still having aftershocks? It must be so frustrating not to be able to go home. I read about one woman begging to be allowed to collect some things, she said she had been in the same track suit for 5 days. 

Might see you in July.

Thanks for the update


----------



## jgudorf

My name is Jon and I own a flat on Via Moscardelli in Ofena. I will be going to Ofena the evening of May 1st through May 4th. If anyone would like me to at least look at the exterior of their homes or to make contact with anyone, let me know and I will do my best while I am there.

Regards, Jon


----------



## Goingtoitalia

jgudorf said:


> My name is Jon and I own a flat on Via Moscardelli in Ofena. I will be going to Ofena the evening of May 1st through May 4th. If anyone would like me to at least look at the exterior of their homes or to make contact with anyone, let me know and I will do my best while I am there.
> 
> Regards, Jon


Hello Jon,
I would love it if you could take a picture of my house. It is on Via de la Vittoria #13 right next to the old Olive Oil company and down the street from the square, yeah the one next to all those odd looking old terracotta "tanks." You will know it by one green door and one brown door, the builders Hugo and Paola just started working on it when the quake hit. I love this little house, I used most of my small inheritance from my parents on it, it is very sentimental to me. Ofena makes me smile, so I can hardly wait for the aftershocks to stop and the town and the sweet wonderful people to return to a more "normal" life.
Thanking in you in advance,
Bruce
[email protected]


----------



## miolas

Hi, Here is a useful link to follow the possible after shakes in the area:

Magnitude 5.0 - CENTRAL ITALY

Lastest of 5.0 Rich on the 13th April. These now seem to be a lot smaller, but for good for keeping up how many there have been since the big Aquila one.


----------



## jgudorf

*Ofena*



Goingtoitalia said:


> Hello Jon,
> I would love it if you could take a picture of my house. It is on Via de la Vittoria #13 right next to the old Olive Oil company and down the street from the square, yeah the one next to all those odd looking old terracotta "tanks." You will know it by one green door and one brown door, the builders Hugo and Paola just started working on it when the quake hit. I love this little house, I used most of my small inheritance from my parents on it, it is very sentimental to me. Ofena makes me smile, so I can hardly wait for the aftershocks to stop and the town and the sweet wonderful people to return to a more "normal" life.
> Thanking in you in advance,
> Bruce
> [email protected]


Bruce,

I just returned from Ofena late last night and I must say things are better than I expected. Looking at seismic charts, the ground is still shaking quite regularly, but most of the tremors are around magnitude 3 and near the original quake.

You place next to the old olive oil storage vats (which I had amazingly never noticed before) appears to have held up well. And the house behind and above you has not fallen on it (which would be possible concern). It all looks to be perfectly intact. 

That being said, like a few have posted elsewhere, there is sometimes damage to the interior despite no viisble exterior damage. My place had some rather big cracks in the ceilings and walls, especially where there are steel support beams, as these resist movement and do not move with the shockwave. The plaster cracks away, forming cracks along the beams, but in some ways is a good indication of the strength, rather than weakness, of the building. So I would expect you may have some plaster and dust, but hopefully no major damage. 

Giacinta is doing well, her shop is back open and Vicenzo is back working at the Comune which is open. The Aufinum bar suffered no damage and is open and as lively as ever. Giacinta has taken in several family members to her home who did lose houses in the quake so we are giving our place to them for use for their guests who are booked in this summer. I can ask if they need any further houses for this or any other purpose. 

I can send you photos if you like just forward your email to [email protected]

Cheers, Jon


----------



## pugwashington

*place to stay*



jgudorf said:


> Bruce,
> 
> I just returned from Ofena late last night and I must say things are better than I expected. Looking at seismic charts, the ground is still shaking quite regularly, but most of the tremors are around magnitude 3 and near the original quake.
> 
> You place next to the old olive oil storage vats (which I had amazingly never noticed before) appears to have held up well. And the house behind and above you has not fallen on it (which would be possible concern). It all looks to be perfectly intact.
> 
> That being said, like a few have posted elsewhere, there is sometimes damage to the interior despite no viisble exterior damage. My place had some rather big cracks in the ceilings and walls, especially where there are steel support beams, as these resist movement and do not move with the shockwave. The plaster cracks away, forming cracks along the beams, but in some ways is a good indication of the strength, rather than weakness, of the building. So I would expect you may have some plaster and dust, but hopefully no major damage.
> 
> Giacinta is doing well, her shop is back open and Vicenzo is back working at the Comune which is open. The Aufinum bar suffered no damage and is open and as lively as ever. Giacinta has taken in several family members to her home who did lose houses in the quake so we are giving our place to them for use for their guests who are booked in this summer. I can ask if they need any further houses for this or any other purpose.
> 
> I can send you photos if you like just forward your email to [email protected]
> 
> Cheers, Jon


very glad to hear life is getting back to normal for everyone. I have been getting a few enquiries for accommodation to stay via my website at Ofena. 

If anyone has any property they want to let out in Ofena for holiday lets please get in touch - it seems that I am getting enquiries as the normal routes are full. Check out the website for details.


----------



## jgudorf

*Hi*



pugwashington said:


> very glad to hear life is getting back to normal for everyone. I have been getting a few enquiries for accommodation to stay via my website at Ofena.
> 
> If anyone has any property they want to let out in Ofena for holiday lets please get in touch - it seems that I am getting enquiries as the normal routes are full. Check out the website for details.


You did well to buy that place, it was one I looked at a couple years ago! Great little balcony and you've made a nice job of it. Looked okay when I was there just over a week ago. No exterior damage was noticeable. I'm next going to Ofena on May 29th so I'll let Giacinta know this may be available if I hear from them in the meantime.

Thanks, Jon G - Via Moscardelli 16


----------

