On Monday morning a earthquake of magnitude 6.3 struck central Italy and was centered near the medieval town of L’Aquila. Many ancient buildings were destroyed, as well as modern ones, and over 250 people have been reported dead so far. The big earthquake on Monday has been followed by several only slightly smaller ones. Use the USGS Google Earth real-time earthquake monitoring tool to check the status of earthquakes world-wide. It is what I use any time I hear about an earthquake in the news.
Last night Google released post-earthquake satellite imagery (taken April 6th) of the region which emergency responders might be able to use to help in recovery efforts. You can view the high resolution imagery by loading this KML
About Frank Taylor
Frank Taylor started the Google Earth Blog in July, 2005 shortly after Google Earth was first released. He has worked with 3D computer graphics and VR for many years and was very impressed with this exciting product. Frank completed a 5.5 year circumnavigation of the earth by sailboat in June 2015 which you can read about at Tahina Expedition, and is a licensed pilot, backpacker, diver, and photographer.