Quake threat may move G8 summit

L'AQUILA, Italy, July 5 (UPI) -- The Group of Eight summit in L'Aquila, Italy, may be moved because aftershocks are still rocking the earthquake-ravaged town, security officials suggested.

The April quake left 300 dead and 53,000 homeless. The G8 summit would bring about 3,000 people into town.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi decided to move the conference to L'Aquila from Sardinia, but in the wake of aftershocks reaching 4.1 on the Richter scale, Italian papers are reporting security concerns may force the conference to move to Rome, The Guardian reported. Diplomats were not in agreement with holding the meetings in L'Aquila from the beginning, the newspaper said.

All eight leaders received briefing papers containing instructions in the event of an earthquake, a British diplomat told The Guardian. The civil protection chief in L'Aquila, Guido Bertolaso, said the facilities for the leaders, a police college, could withstand a quake of a magnitude higher than the 5.8 of the April quake.