NewsTracker Answers for week of Aug. 29, 2016

Q: Hopes of finding more survivors from Italy's powerful earthquake last week have faded as the death toll rose to nearly 300 people with almost another 400 injured. Where is Italy?

Circle the area on this map

Q: The quake destroyed most of Amatrice, which was last year voted one of the most beautiful old towns in Italy. It is located in what mountain range that runs the length of the Italian peninsula?

A. Andes

B. Apennines

C. Appalachians

D. Atlas

B. Like other towns in the Apennine Mountains, many of the buildings in Amatrice were built centuries ago and could not withstand the temblor. Methods for building structures to resist earthquakes only have been developed relatively recently.

Q: Amatrice is in the central Apennines, not far from the site of the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake which killed more than 300 people. The area is about 65 miles east-northeast of Italy’s capital . . .

A. Athens

B. Milan

C. Naples

D. Rome

D. In Rome, Italy’s prime minister declared a state of emergency and authorized $56 million for immediate quake relief. Some people are doubtful about government promises to rebuild Amatrice. About 8,300 people who were forced to leave their homes in the 2009 L'Aquila quake are still in temporary housing.

Q: Italy lies near the boundary of the Eurasian and African plates of the Earth’s crust. Movement between tectonic plates causes earthquakes and volcanoes. Which European nation has the most active volcanoes?

A. Iceland

B. Italy

C. Greece

D. Switzerland

A. Iceland has 35 active volcanoes on or around the island, the most sparsely populated nation in Europe. Iceland sits on the mid-Atlantic ridge, which is the border between the Eurasian and North American plates. Italy has four active volcanoes, making it the second most volcanically active nation in Europe.

Q: One of Italy’s active volcanoes, Mount Etna, is on the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea ...

A. Corsica

B. Sardinia

C. Sicily

D. Vulcano

C. Mount Etna is the tallest active volcano in Europe with more than a million Sicilians living in the nearby metropolitan area of Catania. About 3 million people in and around Naples and next to Mount Vesuvius, the only active volcano on the European mainland.