2009-07-06
Rome. The G8 summit slated to be held in central Italy's L'Aquila this week could be moved to Rome should the area suffer another powerful earthquake, local media said on Monday citing Italian government sources, RIA Novosti reported.
Up to 30 countries are due to take part in events at the G8 summit on July 8-10 in L'Aquila, which was hit by a powerful earthquake in early April, leaving almost 300 people dead, 1,500 injured and about 50,000 homeless.However, a quake of at least 4-4.5 magnitude on the Richter scale could cause the organizers to change the venue.
The Farnesina Palace where the Italian Foreign Ministry's is headquartered was the initial alternative if a quake struck, but latest reports said the summit is likely to be moved to the police training academy in Rome.
L'Aquila was hit by a 4.1 magnitude quake on Friday.The April earthquake also affected Sardinia's La Maddalena, which was initially selected to host the summit, according to the organizers.