Forty-five years ago today, on November 23, 1980 (October 16, 1980 lunar calendar), a powerful earthquake struck southern Italy. On the evening of November 23, 1980, a powerful earthquake struck southern Italy. According to reports, the earthquake occurred at 19:39 local time, with a magnitude of 6.8 on the Richter scale and its epicenter near Potenza. The earthquake was felt to varying degrees throughout the Apennine Peninsula. According to reports, in many towns near Naples and Potenza, buildings collapsed, causing many casualties. The two regions of Basilicata and Campania were the hardest hit. The earthquake was the strongest to hit Italy in half a century. The epicenter of the earthquake was near Potenza, affecting an area of more than 26,000 square kilometers in six provinces. 97 towns were damaged to varying degrees, and millions of residents were affected. The Italian government appointed former deputy foreign minister Zamberletti as a special commissioner to handle the affairs of the disaster area. And declared the 23rd as the "National Day of Mourning", flying black-edged flags in public places to pay tribute to the victims. According to Interior Minister Ronioni announced that the Italian government has allocated 1.20 trillion lira to the six worst-hit provinces, and mobilized thousands of military police and firefighters from all over the country to carry various relief supplies to the disaster area. Italy's three major trade unions also cancelled the strike scheduled for this week to facilitate the relief work. In the past few days, people across Italy have automatically invested in disaster relief operations. Many social groups have collected donations in solidarity with the earthquake victims. According to reports, the situation in the disaster area is very difficult, many victims are homeless and sleeping in the wilderness, and the elderly, sick and disabled are still waiting to be resettled. Countless corpses are still buried under the rubble and cannot be exhumed for a while, and hygiene problems have become increasingly prominent. According to statistics, 3,100 people died due to the earthquake, 2,000 are missing, and 200,000 are homeless.