EARTHQUAKE ROCKS CENTRAL ITALY

Posted on 08/24/2016 | About Rome, Italy

Central Italy was hit by a magnitude 6.2 earthquake at 03:36 local time about 100km north-east of Rome. It was followed by several powerful aftershocks. At least 37 people are dead though it is believed that number could rise. Many are trapped under rubble, according to reports.

Many of the dead were in the village of Pescara del Tronto which was levelled and much of the town of Amatrice was reduced to rubble.
Some buildings in Rome shook for 20 seconds as the quake struck an area between the regions of Umbria, Lazio and Marche.
It was felt from Bologna in the north to Naples in the south.
The highest casualties were reported in the small village of, where 10 people were reported dead, among them children. Twenty people have been taken to hospital.
Two boys aged four and seven were pulled alive from the rubble of the house they had been staying in with their grandmother in Pescara del Tronto. According to the Ansa news agency, rescuers said they had been sheltering under a bed.
Some of the worst damage was in the town of Amatrice, where at least five died and rescue efforts were under way to find survivors.
"The roads in and out of town are cut off. Half the town is gone. There are people under the rubble. There's been a landslide and a bridge might collapse," said mayor Sergio Pirozzi.
"There are tens of victims, so many under the rubble. We're preparing a place for the bodies," he said.
The main street through the town has been devastated and emergency workers are trying to reach six people in a collapsed building.
In Accumoli, a short distance to the north, Mayor Stefano Petrucci said one person had been pulled out of the rubble during the night.
Seismologist Andrea Tertulliani said there were sure to be further, numerous shocks that would probably diminish in intensity.
"But it can't be ruled out that there could be another shock on the same scale as the main one," he said.
Italy's Civil Protection agency described the earthquake as "severe".
"It was so strong. It seemed the bed was walking across the room by itself with us on it," Lina Mercantini of Ceselli, Umbria, told Reuters.
Rescue teams are being sent to the worst-hit areas, the prime minister's office said.