Pope Benedict XVI offered a message of hope to survivors of last week’s Italian earthquake yesterday as the chief prosecutor in the devastated town of L’Aquila announced an investigation into whether modern buildings had collapsed because of shoddy construction.

Speaking in St Peter’s Square, the Pope wished the faithful a happy Easter in 63 languages, and said that his thoughts were with “those who suffered because of the earthquake”. He hoped that survivors would find the “wisdom and courage” to unite in the construction of a future “open to hope”.

Easter services were held in more than 60 tent cities set up in the Abruzzo region to house 25,000 evacuees, many without electricity or hot water. Another 15,000 have been given refuge in hotels on the Adriatic coast at government expense.

At one service Monsignor Giuseppe Molinari, the Archbishop of L’Aquila, said: “I was afraid, I suffered like you.” He added: “We are all a little bit angry with God because we never expected a tragedy this big. But even anger towards God is a sign of faith.”

The search for survivors was called off yesterday, with the death toll at 294.

The Pope sent 500 Easter eggs to be distributed to children, and the regional authorities and Red Cross handed out lamb dishes for a makeshift Easter lunch.

Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister, who has visited the stricken area every day to oversee rescue operations, attended Mass with the emergency services just outside L’Aquila.

“I have never felt so proud to be an Italian” he said. He said that, although aftershocks were continuing, he hoped the crisis was over and attention could turn to reconstruction.

Damage from the disaster is estimated at €5 billion (£4.5 billion), and the Government has earmarked €15 million for the immediate repair of medieval buildings.

Alfredo Rossini, the prosecutor, said he was looking into allegations that modern buildings that collapsed — including a student hostel in which many young people died — had been built with concrete mixed with sea sand, in contravention of anti-seismic building regulations.

Many of the homeless are lobbying the authorities to be allowed to return to damaged homes to collect possessions and documents for fear of looting.

Agostino Miozzo, the head of the Civil Protection agency, said that rescue workers were checking buildings to see “when and if” families could return home.

The European Union and several member nations are sending technical experts to Abruzzo this week to help with safety checks, a process that Mr Berlusconi said could take two months.

The Italian animal protection agency ENPA said its volunteers were searching for pets and farm animals abandoned in the disaster.

In his Urbi et Orbi (to the city and the world) Easter message, Pope Benedict urged mankind to “rediscover grounds for hope” despite disasters, food shortages, financial turmoil, climate change and “the ever present threat of terrorism”. He said that the Resurrection was “not a fairy tale” or myth, and attacked the “emptiness” of materialism and “a vision of the world which is unable to move beyond what is scientifically verifiable”.

He called for a renewed push in talks in the Middle East, saying that he would carry a message of reconciliation with him on his trip to the Holy Land next month, his first as pontiff.

“Reconciliation — difficult but indispensable — is a precondition for a future of overall security and peaceful coexistence” the pontiff said, adding that this could only be achieved through “renewed, persevering and sincere efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”.

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