He declined to make any statement to reporters, saying it was “not the time to talk”.
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ANSA quoted Renzi as vowing to “leave no one on their own – not one family, one town or one village”.
The quake struck at 3.36am local time, when most residents in the area were still in bed. Children were among the dead.
The European Mediterranean Seismological Center put the magnitude at 6.1 and said the epicenter was northeast of Rome, near Rieti.
Amatrice Mayor Pirozzi told state-run RAI radio and Sky TG24 that residents were buried under collapsed buildings, that the lights had gone out and that heavy equipment was needed to clear streets clogged with debris.
Otherwise, they dug in an eerie silence along the little roads in this medieval town in order not to miss possible signs of life. “There are voices under the rubble, we have to save the people there”.
According to local media reports, in Accumoli alone, the mayor says there are some 1,500 people now homeless, NPR’s Sylvia Poggioli reports. ‘I don’t know what we’ll do’. “I just managed to put a pillow on my head and I wasn’t hit luckily, just slightly injured my leg”.
“We had one of the most handsome places in Italy and now we have nothing”, said Amatrice Mayor Sergio Pirozzi. “We are living this huge tragedy”, said a tearful Rev. Savino D’Amelio, a parish priest in Amatrice.
In another remarkable tale of survival a 10-year-old girl was found alive under a collapsed building in the town of Pescara del Tronto after being trapped for more than 17 hours.
The quake was powerful enough to be felt in Bologna to the north and Naples to the south, both more than 220 km (135 miles) from the epicenter. Inhabitants of the four worst-hit small towns rise by as much as tenfold in the summer, and many of those killed or missing were visitors.
“The hotel creaked and groaned.as the prolonged jolt tested the building, which held up well”.
“This is a town that is dead”, Rocchi said, adding he had lost many friends. “We felt an aftershock 20-30 minutes later that was substantial”. The tremor also was felt in Rome. Authorities revised downward an earlier figure of 247 after one of the affected areas corrected its toll.
Wednesday’s quake was not far from L’Aquila.
After checking in with them Wednesday morning, she said everyone seems to be safe.
Several days earlier, central Italy had experienced slight tremors.
Pope Francis expressed his shock.
German leaders have offered condolences and assistance to Italy.
Rescuers search through collapsed houses following Wednesday’s natural disaster. A Maltese team is already helping in the search for survivors.
Head of Civil Protection, Fabrizio Curcio, explained in a press conference held in Rome, that the natural disaster can be compared to that powerful quake that hit L’Aquila in 2009, when over 300 people died.
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“You want to help, but if you open up your network anyone who can connect to it could send malicious communications, download illegal material or potentially hack any computer connected to that network”, Mr. Eden said.
