Comment Central: The list of Berlusconi blunders

Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, appears to have made a serious verbal gaffe after telling a German TV station that the 17,000 people left homeless by the Abruzzo earthquake should consider themselves to be on a "camping weekend".

Touring camps set up for survivors of Monday’s disaster, in which at least 250 people were killed, Mr Berlusconi told a reporter from N-TV: “They have everything they need, they have medical care, hot food... Of course, their current lodgings are a bit temporary. but they should see it like a weekend of camping."

The 72-year-old premier last week threatened "direct and tough" measures against the Italian press for its coverage of his antics at the G20 summit in London, when Mr Berlusconi missed one official photocall and annoyed the Queen at another by shouting out loud to attract the attention of Barack Obama.

But his comments to the German TV station must rank among the most undiplomatic of a long career that has seen him comparing a German MEP with a concentration camp guard and describing Mr Obama, two days after his election as president, as "young, handsome and suntanned".

Mr Berlusconi had won plaudits in Italy for his prompt reaction to the Abruzzo quake: he immediately cancelled an official visit to Moscow, declared an emergency to unblock federal funds and visited the region to oversee the relief effort.

Most of the homeless from Monday's quake spent last night in tent camps that have sprung up around L'Aquila, capital of the Abruzzo region. With residents told not to sleep in their homes in case of further tremors, thousands of others are sleeping in their cars.

Meanwhile, strong aftershocks two days after the devastating quake today jeopardised increasingly desperate search efforts.

The jolts added to a night of misery for more than 200 homeless survivors, who were unable to find shelter at camps set up around L’Aquila.

"Shame on you!" screamed a woman at one of the tent cities."Rai (state television) says everything’s under control, but we can’t even get into the tents."

At least seven strong shocks hit the region through the night, the latest around 6:30 am.

A grandmother caring for her three-month-old granddaughter said she knew the aftershocks could not harm them in their tent, but said:"It was still scary when you feel the earth move".

Several guests at L’Aquila’s Federico II hotel, one of the few businesses still open in the medieval walled city, preferred to spend the night in their car after noticing floor-to-ceiling cracks appearing in the walls.

Mr Berlusconi said yesterday that the search for survivors would continue "another 48 hours until we are certain" no living person remains under the rubble.

He said 150 people had so far been pulled out alive from collapsed structures. Among them was 98-year-old Maria D’Antuono, who was pulled from the rubble 30 hours after the quake and told rescuers that she had kept herself busy crocheting.

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