Nine days after what was once the golden retriever Romeo's home in Amatrice, Italy collapsed on him, his incessant barking alerted firefighters to his presence under the debris and led to his triumphant rescue.

Romeo's Survival

According to a report from CNN, the rescue workers were passing through the ruins in the town of Amatrice when they suddenly heard a distinct barking from beneath the piles of rubble. It's Romeo, the golden retriever, trapped under his collapsed home.

The rescuers eventually pulled the dog out of the destroyed home to cheers from the crowd. A little shaken but healthy and energetic Romeo emerged from the collapsed metal structural beams, which likely shielded him from the brunt of the force and debris of the house.

Although a little bit rattled, Romeo was healthy and energetic after coming out of the rubble. The rescue workers gave him some water.

Tragic Earthquake in Italy Killed Hundreds

Romeo may have come out of the ordeal alive, but plenty of people lost their lives to the natural disaster last week. According to a report from the Washington Post, the disaster killed nearly 300 people, wounded more and destroyed ancient villages. The 6.2 earthquake hit Amatrice,m the worst, with 38 fatalities including two children.

Ancient villages and towns fared terribly in the wake of the natural disaster also because the century-old buildings aren't built to withstand such strong forces, according to a report from New York Times.

"Even 100 years ago, they didn't know how to build structures to withstand earthquakes," David A. Rothery, a professor of planetary geosciences at the Open University in Milton Keynes, England, pointed out. Although there are laws to build more resilient buildings, reinforcement of old ones haven't been strictly implemented.

Furthermore, the Italian earthquake was found to be a shallow one, a kind which Rothery explained tends to be more violent.

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