The last major natural disaster to hit Italy struck the central city of L’Aquila in 2009, killing more than 300 people. “Half the village has disappeared”.
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Pope Francis skipped his traditional catechism for his Wednesday general audience and instead invited pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square to recite the rosary with him.
Italy’s Civil Protection agency said the natural disaster was “severe” and there had been reports of damage, while a refuge on Gran Sasso mountain said on its Facebook page that a large piece of rock collapsed in the quake.
Residents of Rome were woken by the tremors, which rattled furniture, swayed lights and set off vehicle alarms in most of central Italy.
Ten bodies had been recovered there by mid-morning and rescuers were braced for further fatalities.
Another death was reported in the nearby town of Accumoli, where there are also four other people believed dead under the rubble of collapsed houses.
“We have a tragedy here”, said Petrucci. She was able to escape into the street with her children.
The village was packed with visitors at the peak of the summer season when the quake struck, destroying the picturesque hilltop village’s main street.
He said access to the village had been blocked, making it impossible for emergency services to get through.
“It was one of the most attractive towns of Italy and now there’s nothing left”, she said, too distraught to give her name. “We can hear voices under the rubble”.
The quake leveled buildings in several towns as residents slept.
USGS’s PAGER system, which predicts the impact of earthquakes, has issued a red alert – suggesting significant casualties and damage based on previous quake data.
The Italian geological service put the magnitude at 6.0; the U.S. Geological Survey reported 6.2 with the epicenter at Norcia, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) northeast of Rome, and with a relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles).
Italy’s civil protection agency said the quake was “severe”.
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Another quake hit the northern Emilia Romagna region in May 2012, when two violent shocks 10 days apart left 23 people dead and 14,000 others homeless.
