Officials warn the death toll may rise further if people possibly trapped in the rubble are not rescued soon.
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As of Thursday, the death toll of the deadly quake is grim, with 247 people now confirmed dead from the disaster.
The provisional death toll has jumped to 247, from the 159 listed on Wednesday night, the Civil Protection department said. Trucks full of rubble left the area every few minutes, including one in which a dusty doll could be seen lying on top of tonnes of debris.
The 6.2-magnitude earth quake hit at 3.36am Wednesday (11.36am Wednesday AEST), 100km northeast of Rome.
“When we learned that the hardest hit place was here, we came, we spoke to our bishop and he encouraged us to come here to comfort the families of the victims”, said the Rev. Marco as he walked through Pescara del Tronto.
A strong tremor with magnitude 4.3 struck on Thursday afternoon, sending rescuers fleeing from already fragile buildings.
The jolt, which struck fear and panic in survivors, detached the church’s facade, leaving it leaning dangerously over the main street where the emergency services were working under blue skies and hot summer sun.
Italy’s health minister, Beatrice Lorenzin, visited the devastated area Wednesday and noted that numerous victims were children.
Aftershocks in central Italy rattled residents and rescue workers alike Thursday, as crews worked to find more natural disaster survivors and the country anguished over its repeated failure to protect ancient towns and modern cities from seismic catastrophes.
The town, known across Italy and beyond for a local pasta dish, had been filling up for the 50th edition of a popular food festival this weekend.
Five bodies were pulled from the wreckage of a hotel late Wednesday but rescue work was suspended when conditions became too unsafe.
Little is now known about the nationalities of those caught up in the quake, but Romania’s foreign ministry says that five Romanians have died and 11 are missing, while Spain’s foreign ministry says at least one Spaniard has died.
Rescuers refused to say when their work would shift from saving lives to recovering bodies, noting that one person was pulled alive from the rubble 72 hours after the 2009 quake in the Italian town of L’Aquila.
Many other children were not so lucky.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi led an emergency Cabinet meeting on Thursday to discuss reconstruction plans for affected areas.
All of the residents in Amatrice and Accumoli were evacuated by late Wednesday.
Three Britons are reportedly among those killed in the Italy natural disaster.
Most of the damage was in the Lazio and Marche regions, with Lazio bearing the brunt of the devastation and the biggest toll. Neighboring Umbria was also affected. All three regions are dotted with centuries-old buildings susceptible to earthquakes.
Since it’s located atop two fault lines, Italy is accustomed to massive earthquakes and has invested in quakeproof infrastructure to compensate.
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Though the full extent of the damage is unknown as of writing authorities estimate that more than 1,000 people in the region have been displaced by the quake.
