At Least 91 Die in Earthquake in Italy

The New York Times article “At Least 91 Die in Earthquake in Italy” reported today that 150 people were killed in central Italy this morning in a 6.3 magnitude earthquake. This article was particularly interesting to me for two reasons: first, it was interesting to see how the Times structured a natural disaster story about Italy, and second, I spent a semester abroad in Florence last spring, so this story felt very personal to me.

In addition to the 150 killed, 1500 people were injured and tens of thousands of locals were left homeless. This is an update from the article posted three hours later indicating at least nine confirmed deaths from the quake. However, the deaths are not the first issue that is emphasized in the article; after the lead and the following sentence, the article transitions into descriptions of how the medieval, “picturesque fortress town” had extensive damage to the historic buildings in the center of the city. The author describes how nuns “still dressed in bright orange and blue bathrobes” climbed into vans, and how “the cupola of the 18th-century Santa Maria del Suffargio church cracked open like an eggshell, exposing the stucco patterns inside the dome.” Five full stanzas are given to structural damage descriptions before the article even mentions the Prime Minister had declared a state of emergency. Halfway into the piece, the article finally gets to descriptions of how people were handling the situation, at what time the quake occurred, and how far the quake was felt.

I find it especially interesting that it isn’t until the last two sentences of the article that the author tells the reader whether or not quakes are common in Italy, and when the last quake of this nature occurred in this country. It turns out this quake was the worst to hit Italy since 1980—which I consider to be the second most newsworthy aspect to this article, trumped only by the large-scale deaths that resulted in the event. Sure enough, the Italian news source ANSA, which released the initial report on this event, included this information on the in their lead sentence.

Based on all of this information, I feel as though the Times, although unintentionally, has written this article in a way that stereotypes Italy and Italian culture. When most Americans think of Italy, the things that immediately come to mind are religion, beautiful architecture, and of course incredible cuisine. And in this article, even in the face of a catastrophic natural disaster, two of these themes are found before much more newsworthy information. Obviously damage to historical monuments is important to report on, but I believe the information about overcrowded hospitals and rescue efforts should come before descriptions of building damage. Yet this story is written in a way that appeals to American readers, who the author apparently believes would be more concerned with the welfare of the nuns and cobblestone streets than of the nature of the actual quake.