Italy declares state of emergency after deadly landslide

Italy's government declared a state of emergency on Sunday after a landslide on the southern island of Ischia killed at least two and left a dozen missing. 
 
Earlier on Saturday, a wave of mud poured down the hill in the little village of Casamicciola Terme in the dark hours of the morning, swallowing at least one home and dragging automobiles down to the sea.
 
The amount of two million euros was released as relief funds by the emergency cabinet meeting which declared the state of emergency, according to Minister for Civil Protection Nello Musumeci.  
 
More than 200 rescuers are still searching for the missing, and hundreds of volunteers are busy cleaning the town's streets.  
 
The mudslide crushed cars and buses and their wreckage could be seen here and there. Boulders were scattered around while excavators worked on freeing up access to homes, vehicles, and shops.
 
The body of a 31-year-old woman had been recovered by rescuers, Italian news agency AGI said.
 
"It's a situation that hurts us, if only for the people who disappeared under the mountain. Here it's an island and even if we don't really know everyone, it's almost that," Salvatore Lorini, 45, told AFP.  
 
"The mountain came down, and there was the devastation of shops, cars, and hotels and that was already happening nine years ago. Now I am cleaning my mother-in-law's shop," he said, adding that the landslide was the cause of a lack of maintenance and prevention "because nature is nature, there was an earthquake, but a bit of prevention" could have saved lives.
 
It is worth noting that the peninsula, off Naples, is no stranger to states of emergency following earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, or severe weather.