“Half of the town doesn’t exist anymore”, Sergio Perozzi, mayor of Amatrice, told RAI-TV.
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The quake measured 6.2 on the Richter scale, according to the US Geological Survey.
Later, the ANSA news agency reported that two bodies were pulled from the rubble in Amatrice.
At least 63 people were killed and dozens more were missing or feared dead Wednesday after a magnitude 6.2 quake and a series of aftershocks struck several towns in central Italy, Italian authorities said.
UPDATE: 3:09 a.m. EDT – At least 10 people have been confirmed dead in central Italy following a 6.2-magnitude natural disaster, both Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Reuters reported, citing local media.
If there was no answer, they moved on to the next person.
The worst hit towns were believed to be Accumoli, Amatrice, Posta and Arquata del Tronto, Cari told Reuters, adding that helicopters would be sent up at first light to assess the damage.
The main road into and out of the town was covered in debris, making rescue hard; residents were digging their neighbors out by hand.
Italy is often shaken by earthquakes.
“Now that daylight has come, we see that the situation is even more terrible than we feared with buildings collapsed, people trapped under the rubble and no sound of life”, Pertucci, Accumoli mayor, told RAI-TV. At the Vatican, Pope Francis cancelled part of his general audience to pray for the victims.
The crowd in St. Peter’s Square recited the prayer along with him.
The shallow quake struck 10 kilometres southeast of Norcia, a town in the province of Perugia, at around 3.30 am (0130 GMT) according to the USGS, AFP reports.
In an August 24 communique from the CEI, the bishops said the Church throughout Italy “gathers in prayer for all the victims and expresses her fraternal closeness to the people involved in this tragic event”.
In Accumoli, a local photographer spoke of 15 rescuers digging with their bare hands trying reach the family.
The mayor of the quake-hit town of Accumoli says a family of four has been located under the debris of a collapsed building and but there are no signs of life. “Two parents and two children”, the mayor, Stefano Petrucci, told RAI. Several towns and villages were affected by the quake, however, it did not appear to have affected the populated areas of the region, Reuters reported.
A single clock tower, miraculously still standing amidst the debris, and frozen on the time 3:36 a.m.
INGV reported 60 aftershocks in the four hours following the initial quake, the strongest measuring 5.5.
“I hope they don’t forget us”, he told Sky TG24.
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A man wrapped in a blanket looks on as a rescuer with a dog stand in front a collapsed house following a quake in Amatrice, central Italy, Aug. 24, 2016.
