Nathaleen Cameon Oliverio, Class of 1948, who lives in East Chicago, Indiana, across the state line from Chicago, Illinois, reports that no family members were injured in the Italy quake that struck 65 miles northeast of Rome and has killed at least 159 people.

The total will rise as workers remove the rubble of destroyed homes.

Nathy’s relatives are in Ascoli Piceno, 30 miles from Amatrice, all but destroyed by the earthquake, and in San Vito, 330 miles from Amatrice in the heel of the “boot”  of Italy on the Adriatic sea.

Nathy reported:

“Just to let my family know I talked to cousin Maria in Italy and our family ALL are fine. The earthquake was felt in Ascoli & San Vito & Aqua Santa in Central Italy.

“Just one home of Dominic’s uncle was destroyed in San Vito.

“Maria said they felt the shocks. I was happy to get through this AM at 4 o’clock.”

It was a magnitude 6.2 quake near Perugia, but three-quarters of Amatrice and Accumoli were destroyed.

The tremor was felt across Italy, from Bologna in the north to Naples in the south. There have been dozens of aftershocks.

Hardest hit were the small towns and villages in the mountainous area where the regions of Umbria, Lazio and Le Marche meet.

Italy is no stranger to earthquakes. There have been hundreds of them in recent decades.

Many Italians immigrated to West Virginia, and Monongah, in the early 1900s to work in the coal mines. By far the worse death toll by ethic origin in the 1907 Monongah mines explosions that killed 362 involved Italian immigrants.