ONNA, Italy  Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday toured the wreckage left by the earthquake this month, offering comfort to survivors still living in tents here in the hardest-hit town, where 40 out of 300 residents died.

“I would like to hug you with affection, one by one,” Benedict said, standing inside the tent camp as a light rain fell. Across the muddy parking lot stood the crumbling ruins of the town’s houses, while the snow-capped Apennines rose in the distance.

The pope said he hoped that his visit would be “a tangible sign” that the Lord “is not deaf to the worried cry of so many families who lost everything: houses, savings, work and often even human lives.”

Though small, Onna has become the symbol of the devastation caused by the earthquake, which killed nearly 300 people and left 65,000 homeless in this mountainous region of central Italy on April 6.