According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake hit towns and villages in the mountainous heart of the country at a depth of 10 km about 11 km from Amatrice, a town of 2,000 people north of Italy’s Lazio region.
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On Thursday, Amatrice was hit by a 4.3-magnitude aftershock, one of more than 400 temblors that have continued to devastate the area following the quake.
The quake was powerful enough to be felt in Rome 150 kilometres (90 miles) away, as well as Bologna. The places hardest hit were the towns Amatrice and Accumoli in Rieti province, and the villages of Arquata del Tronto and Peschiera del Tronto in the eastern Marche region.
One Spaniard, five Romanians, and a number of other foreigners, some of them care-givers for the elderly, were believed to be among the dead, officials said.
The Mayor of Amatrice, the town at the epicenter of the Italian quake, told the media a short while after the disaster that “the town is no more”. Today, he estimated that around 15 to 20 tourists are amongst those buried under the ruins of a local hotel.
“The dogs from our dog rescue unit make us think there could be something”, said Danilo Dionisi, a spokesman for the firefighters.
The schoolgirl, named Giulia, was rescued late on Wednesday amid cheering but 90 percent of the quake victims are being pulled out dead from beneath the rubble, according to rescuers.
Two other children died when a church bell tower fell on their home, said UK Mirror.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi was holding a Cabinet meeting on Thursday to agree measures to help the affected communities.
Some 460 aftershocks overall have followed since Wednesday morning, Seismology experts said.
The death toll appeared likely to rival or surpass that from the last major quake to strike Italy, which killed more than 300 people in the central city of L’Aquila in 2009. Neighbouring Umbria was also affected.
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.
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What was especially tragic from Wednesday’s natural disaster was the fact that it hit some of Italy’s most handsome and oldest towns.
