Quake rocks Italian supercar makers

Supercar makers Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini have sent their workers home after a series of earthquakes killed 17 people around Modena in Italy, yesterday.

The three Italian sportscar icons, along with the Bologna-based motorcycle maker, Ducati, have idled their factories for at least 24 hours as the Emilia Romagna region struggles to cope with more than 600 earthquakes or aftershocks in the last eight days.

At least 17 people died when a 5.8-level quake hit at 9.00am local time yesterday. Six further large shocks, including a 5.4 and a 5.1 also centred just north of Modena, followed throughout the day, leaving 350 injured and 15,000 homeless in the northern Italian industrial heartland.

Marble statues, stone chimneys and building facades crashed down into the streets of the historic city centres in Modena, Mantova, Cento, Carpi, Ferrara and Bologna, while smaller towns near the epicentres, such as Finale Emilia and Mirandola were all but wiped out.

While none of the supercar makers received obvious damage in the quake, all of them felt it and evacuated.

Lamborghini, closest to the epicenter of the quake activity, sent its workers to be with their families, several of which lost their homes. At least two Maserati employees lost their homes as well. Ferrari, housed 22km south of Modena, was farthest from the quakes, but still sent its workers home as a precaution.

The car companies have been alarmed that those killed in the two biggest quakes have, disproportionately, been factory workers, even though the biggest structural damage has been to the region’s ancient churches and clock towers.

“We have no direct damage and suffered no injuries, though it was a frightening time,” Maserati’s Franco Bay said.

“But we are taking the next two days to do a full engineering assessment on our factory and all of our buildings, so until that is finished, it’s safer not to have people here.”

Two of those killed in yesterday’s earthquake were working in a factory that had been cleared for re-entry only two days earlier.

Maserati also had to pause its launch of the GranTurismo Sport coupe, after a group of Japanese journalists flew into Frankfurt yesterday morning, heard of the earthquake situation in Modena and flew straight back to Japan. A group of Russian journalists are due in today.

The quake was also felt by a group of journalists in Verona to test Volvo's new V40, while diesel engine maker, VM Motori, is also in the area, though its production is unaffected.

Agricultural and heavy industry maker, Case-New Holland, closed its plants in both Modena and 15km further north after cracks appeared in a workshop wall. It also donated a front-end loader and a digger to aid the rescue workers.

The region itself, also home to significant vinegar, cheese and machinery manufacturing industries, is suffering quake fatigue after being hit with more than 600 tremors or aftershocks since the first earthquake hit in the early hours of Sunday, May 20.

At least 10 people died in the level 6.0 and 5.0 earthquakes, which struck around 2.00am and 4.00am, killing workers in a ceramic plant when its roof collapsed.

Seismological equipment in Modena detected 67 events of more than 2.0 between 4.30pm yesterday and midnight.

Not known as an earthquake centre, the region around Modena last received a significant earthquake in 1501 and again in the 1300s, though history may now need a rewrite.

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