THE TWO Cypriot female students who witnessed the horror of Monday’s devastating earthquake in Italy, including the loss of a close friend, broke down last night when they were finally reunited with their families.
Clearly in a state of complete shock and exhaustion, Niovi Michael, 20, and Liana Georgiou, 23, came through the arrivals doors at Larnaca airport and immediately stretched out their arms to embrace their anxious parents and close relatives who had gathered to welcome them home. The duo clung to their families tightly and sobbed with relief.
Michael chose not to make any statements to reporters last night, limiting her words to a simple “thank you” to the Cyprus Ambassador to Italy. She then managed to slip away with her parents to head back to Paphos where they live.
Georgiou stopped to speak to newsmen briefly. The 23-year-old Nicosia woman was visibly confused and shaken and her voice trembled when she said: “I just wanted to come home. I couldn’t stay there anymore.”
She said she had been in bed asleep when the quake shook.
“I felt everything shaking. I ran outside without anything,” she said.
The 23-year-old said what she had experienced was “terrifying”.
She added: “I just want to thank the Ambassador, the Consul and Cyprus Airways that brought us back. Nothing more.”
The two young women were two of the lucky survivors in the quake that flattened the medieval town of L’Aquila during the early hours of Monday. Over 220 people died and over 17,000 people left homeless.
And just as the girls arrived home, a 5.6 magnitude aftershock killed at least one other person and flattened more buildings in L’Aquila , Italy’s ANSA news agency reported.
The aftershock – the most powerful since Monday’s 5.8 to 6.3 magnitude quake – struck the Abruzzo region in the early evening. It felled structures in the already battered medieval city and was felt as far away as Rome, where furniture
shook on the upper floors of buildings, witnesses said.
Michael and Georgiou, who were studying psychology and foreign languages and foreign languages, respectively, were in their third year at the local university in the mountainous region of central Italy.
Neither girl commented on the fact that their friend, Vassilis Koufolia from Greece, did not survive. Reports said Niovi knew him particularly well and that her flatmate had been his girlfriend. The young man, whose sister was saved by rescuers on Monday, was already dead yesterday when he was pulled out from the ruins.
Michael and Georgiou said they would not be returning to L’Aquila to continue their studies. Instead it is thought the pair will enrol in other Italian Universities to complete their education.
The girls flew back onboard Cyprus Airways’ Rome-Milan-Larnaca flight. Both Olympic Airways and Aegean had offered to fly the women home free of charge but it was deemed less of a hassle for them to return on the Cyprus Airways flight, reports said.
