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Istanbul and Italy were the major datelines. All three White House correspondents filed from Istanbul after Barack Obama addressed the Turkish parliament in Ankara. Natural disaster beat out Presidential diplomacy for Story of the Day honors, however. All the newscasts kicked off with images of destruction from the mountains of Abruzzo where an overnight earthquake rattled the medieval city of L'Aquila. At least 150 people were killed and more than 50,000 have been rendered homeless.

The earthquake registered 6.3 on the Richter Scale but its epicenter was shallow, explained CBS' Allen Pizzey, "which makes the tremors more powerful and devastating." It struck on the edges of the Apennine Mountains northeast of Rome. NBC's Stephanie Gosk pointed out that it is "an active earthquake fault" between the Eurasian and African plates, where a similarly deadly quake struck 30 years ago. "The quake was so violent that roads turned into gaping holes, swallowing cars hole," remarked ABC's Miguel Marquez. "Much of the area's cultural heritage is severely damaged--some buildings over 500 years old--but it is the newer construction that was flattened."


Andrew Tyndall 4/7/09 9:10:11 pm

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