Dumbstruck

Amid rubble, a firefighter surveys the devastation beneath the clock tower of Amatrice, Italy, days after a magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck the town on Aug 24. The 13th-century tower survived the quake, though its bell fell and its clock froze. Many buildings and residents did not: “Half the village has disappeared,” mourned Mayor Sergio Pirozzi. In all, the quake claimed 292 lives in Amatrice and nearby regions of central Italy.