L’AQUILA, Italy — Pope Benedict XVI is demanding some “serious soul-searching” from those responsible for shoddy construction that has been blamed for many of the nearly 300 deaths in Italy’s earthquake.
Benedict visited a tent camp, a basilica and the remains of a collapsed university dormitory today to comfort survivors and give them hope to rebuild.
The 6.3-magnitude quake claimed 296 lives in the dozens of towns and villages in the Abruzzo region. About 50,000 people were driven from their homes, and thousands of buildings collapsed.
Prosecutors have opened an investigation into shoddy construction blamed for many of the building collapses, looking into both the construction work and materials used amid allegations that sea sand was mixed with cement.
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