Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi flew back to the disaster-struck region of Abruzzo on Tuesday for a first-hand look at rescue efforts together with Civil Protection chief Guido Bertolaso.
Before landing in the region's capital L'Aquila, the premier's helicopter flew over nearby towns where the destruction from Monday's earthquake was the greatest.
Berlusconi spent several hours in the region on Monday to review the extent of the damage from the quake and later returned to Rome where he signed a decree declaring the zone a national disaster area and activated emergency funds to deal with the crisis, including those available from the European Union.
The official death toll is currently 179 with an estimated one out of seven L'Aquila residents homeless for a total of 17,000 in the province.
Berlusconi was supposed to have travelled to Moscow for a Russian-Italian summit but cancelled his trip after the earthquake hit.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, a personal friend of the premier, said in Moscow on Tuesday that he ''perfectly understood'' why Berlusconi was unable to attend the summit.
Putin also expressed condolences, as well as those of the Russian people, for the victims of the earthquake.
