"Rescuers were digging through rubble with bare hands for survivors after a powerful earthquake hit central Italy Monday, killing dozens, leaving thousands homeless and devastating a historic city and nearby towns.

The Italian Civil Protection Agency said the magnitude 6.3 earthquake's death toll stood at more than 100. Other media accounts showed a wide range in reporting the number dead. More than 1,500 were hurt."

Last night at 3.20 AM a whole province of Italy was swepped away by an awful earthquake. Hundreds of victims, thousands of blessed, houses and lives destroyed in just a handful of seconds. Seeing all that desperation, all that devastation I can only ask myself "How could this happen?" "Why did God allow such a terrible thing?

My friend Martina's sister lives in that town. Thank God she is safe and sound. Her class-mate was not so lucky.

All my thoughts goes out to all those people who died; to all those who lost their friends, their relatives, their pets, the houses they had bought with so many sacrifices; to those who are helping, digging with their bare hands trying to save those who are trapped in what remains of the most precious place they had.

Tomorrow I am going to donate blood, but I wish there was more that I could do.

The good thing is that tragedies like this increase my faith in humanity: everyone tries to help, even by doing apparently insignificant thingslike giving a blanket to those who are in need, even if they do not know them.

The bad thing is that a month from now everything will be forgotten and people will keep building houses ignoring safety rules and using low-quality materials until the next tragedy will happen.