A strong earthquake has struck central Italy, collapsing homes on top of residents as they slept and leaving at least 20 people dead.
The magnitude 6 quake struck at 3.36am local time (0136 GMT) and was felt across a broad swathe of central Italy, including the capital, Rome, where residents felt a long swaying followed by aftershocks.
The hardest-hit towns were Amatrice and Accumoli near Rieti, some 100km north-east of Rome, though the quake was felt beyond the Lazio region into Umbria and Le Marche on the Adriatic coast.
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The centre of Amatrice was devastated, with entire palazzos razed to the ground. Rocks and metal tumbled on to the streets and dazed residents huddled in piazzas as dozens of aftershocks continued into the early morning hours, some as strong as 5.1.
鈥淭he whole ceiling fell but did not hit me,鈥� said resident Maria Gianni. 鈥淚 just managed to put a pillow on my head and I wasn鈥檛 hit, luckily, just slightly injured my leg.鈥�
As daylight dawned, residents, civil protection workers and even priests began digging out with shovels, bulldozers and their bare hands, trying to reach survivors.
No surprise
The devastation harked back to the 2009 quake that killed more than 300 people in and around L鈥橝quila, which sent emergency teams to help with the rescue on Wednesday. Seven seismologists were sentenced to six years in prison for failing to predict that quake.
鈥淭his earthquake is no surprise,鈥� says聽Mark Quigley of the School of Earth Sciences at The University of Melbourne. 鈥淭his is one of the most seismically active parts of Italy as clearly identified in many seismic hazard maps.鈥�
The Italian geological service put the magnitude at 6.0. The US Geological Survey put the magnitude at 6.2 with the epicentre at Norcia, about 170km north-east of Rome, and with a relatively shallow depth of 10km.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what to say. We are living this immense tragedy,鈥� said the Rev Savino D鈥橝melio, an Amatrice parish priest. 鈥淲e are only hoping there will be the least number of victims possible and that we all have the courage to move on.鈥�
Amatrice Mayor Pirozzi told state-run RAI radio and Sky TG24 that residents were buried under collapsed buildings, that the lights had gone out and that heavy equipment was needed to clear streets clogged with debris.
In 2009, a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck in the same region and killed more than 300 people. The earlier earthquake struck in L鈥橝quila was about 90km south of the latest quake.
