A strong quake has devastated a string of mountain towns and villages in central Italy, killing dozens of people and leaving many unaccounted for.
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“Half of the town doesn’t exist anymore”, Sergio Perozzi, mayor of Amatrice, told RAI-TV.
“We must be equipped for the emergencies of the next few hours, days and weeks, but for now the priority above all is to continue searching through the rubble”, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said in a televised address.
Italy’s civil protection unit said in the first official death toll there had been 38 deaths in and around the villages of Amatrice, Accumoli and Arquata del Tronto.
The devastation harked back to the 2009 quake that killed more than 300 people in and around L’Aquila, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of the latest quake. “We must get down to work.to restore hope to this area which has been so badly hit”, he said in a brief televised address.
Italy has suffered from several deadly earthquakes in recent years, including one measuring 6.3 in 2009 that killed almost 300 people, and a pair of quakes measuring 6.0 and 5.8 that killed 23 people in 2012. “One was a friend of mine”, he said. The earthquakes caused widespread damage, affecting the Lazio region, the Marche region, and the Tyrrhenian coast. In the town of Amatrice, the grand clock tower once centred in a long street of busy buildings and houses is seen standing in the centre of rubble.
The first quake measured 6.2, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), which said it occurred at a shallow depth of 10 kilometres (six miles). In the village of Pescara del Tronto, at least 100 people were missing, Sky quoted news agency AGI as saying.
The road leading to Amatrice was filled with cracks and littered with boulders as people, some still in their pajamas, were still streaming away from the worst-hit areas at mid-morning. Olga Urbani, in the nearby town of Scheggino, said: “Dear God it was bad”.
After a deadly natural disaster hit the town of L’Aquila in 2009, the Italian Jewish community launched an appeal to its members for aid and offered the services of the Jewish hospital in Rome and other health facilities.
Since Italy sits on two fault lines, it has gained a reputation as one of the most earthquake-prone countries in Europe.
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Emma Tucker, the deputy editor of The Times of London, was one of the thousands of people on vacation in the region struck by the quake.
