In 2009, a 6.3-magnitude quake hit the same area but left nearly 300 people dead.
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The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre put the magnitude at 6.1 and said the epicentre was northeast of Rome, near Rieti.
This is the first major natural disaster in Italy since 2009 when a 6.3 magnitude quake killed more than 300 people and left 65,000 homeless.
A resident of the Rieti region, which is between Rome and the epicenter of the quake, told the Rainews24 channel that she and most of her neighbors had come out onto the street after feeling “very strong shaking”.
Sergio Pirozzi, the mayor of the town of Amatrice in the province of Lazio told RAI that residents were buried under the debris of collapsed buildings and that “the town isn’t here anymore”.
Another two people died and a family of four including two young children were trapped, feared dead, in their collapsed house in Accumoli, according to its mayor Stefano Petrucci. “I don’t know what we’ll do”. Residents across a broad swath of central Italy felt the temblor, which struck at 3:36 a.m. and sent people running into the streets. At least two people are dead and half a town is under rubble, according to the town’s mayor.
The USGS estimated that significant casualties are likely and that economic loss could be extensive.
“Four people are under the rubble, but they are not showing any sign of life”.
The sites that faced the most damage were Accumoli, Amatrice, Posta and Arquata del Tronto and Cari, but the quake was felt all the way from Rome to Bologna. “There’s been a landslide and a bridge might collapse”.
In September 1997, 6.0 magnitude quake in the area killed 11 and injured over 100, destroying approximately 80,000 homes in the Marche and Umbria regions.
Fabrizio Curcio, the head of Italy’s civil protection service, classed the quake as “severe”. “There is damage to the historic heritage and buildings, but we do not have any serious injuries”, he told Rai.
Rocks and metal tumbled onto the streets and dazed residents huddled in piazzas as some 39 aftershocks jolted the region into the early morning hours, some as strong as 5.1.
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Curcio said the latest seismic event was “severe” and “comparable” to the l’Aquila quake in its intensity, but was likely less deadly because it took place in an area that is less densely populated.
