Troops took only minutes to rescue the elderly survivors, who had been trapped in the car for over 20 hours.
These are precious resources that can make an enormous difference in the lives of elderly and ailing survivors.
However, when they were "rediscovered" by Catholic priests in 1966, only three elderly survivors remained.
"The flower girl" (Pygmalion) was the first book that came to mind for one very elderly survivor.
But for the elderly survivors, today's quakes barely deserved notice.
Today the two elderly survivors left the hall clasping hands, and smiling.
The pose was painful and one elderly survivor with a pacemaker was close to a faint.
At the moment when the elderly survivors were to lay flowers on the ground, they instead handed them over to local schoolchildren.
"One of the themes was, this is probably the last major anniversary of the event at which elderly survivors will be able to participate."
He lived his final nine years in one of two rent-subsidized buildings constructed especially for elderly survivors.
