Hardest hit were the tiny towns of Amatrice and Accumoli near Rieti, some 100 kilometers (62 miles) northeast of Rome, and Pescara del Tronto, some 25 kilometers further east. Italy’s civil protection agency, which was coordinating the rescue and care for survivors, said dozens were injured and thousands in need of temporary housing, though it stressed the numbers were fluid.
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“Now that daylight has come, we see that the situation is even more awful than we feared with buildings collapsed, people trapped under the rubble and no sound of life”, Pertucci, Accumoli mayor, told RAI-TV.
More than 1,000 people have been displaced by the quake, and the Civil Protection agency says no residents will be allowed to sleep in the devastated town of Amatrice tonight.
Meanwhile reports said 10 people had died in the village of Pescara del Tronto.
The quake was magnitude 6.2 and struck in the early hours of Wednesday morning.The epicentre was at Rietti near the city of Perugia.
Rescue workers have been targeting their efforts in the town by calling the cellphones of missing residents, and trying to reach those who answer.
“Hearing the mayor of Amatrice say that the town no longer exists and hearing that there are children among the victims, I am deeply saddened”, the pontiff told people in St Peter’s Square.
Just after midday, almost nine hours after the first quake shook residents and holiday makers from their sleep in terrifying fashion, army diggers were still making their way up to a village situated at an altitude of 800 metres (2,600 feet).
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck near the Umbrian city of Norcia. “There’s been a landslide and a bridge might collapse”. One mayor reported that a family of four was trapped under the debris without signs of life and another said, “The town isn’t here anymore”.
Rescue operation began after the magnitude 6.2 quake, epicenter of which was near Accumoli, leveled many buildings in the city and villages, according to BBC reports.
The Italian Red Cross was one of the first relief organizations to respond to impacted areas, sifting through rubble to find those trapped and injured.
However Norcia Mayor Nicola Alemanno said no deaths have been reported there.
On Thursday, emergency workers managed to pull one person and a dog from the enormous pile of rubble as residents and emergency responders continue to locate survivors, CBS2 reported. Rescue crews are racing to dig out survivors in remote areas.
Agostino Severo, a Rome resident visiting Illica, said: “We came out to the piazza, and it looked like ‘Dante’s Inferno.’ People crying for help, help”.
Emma Tucker, deputy editor of British newspaper The Times, was in Italy’s Marche region, about 85 kilometers from the epicenter, when her house started “trembling, shaking.an absolutely appalling noise”.
Wednesday’s quake will be a test of Italy’s construction codes, the experts added.
Although it struck at a shallow depth of 10km, its intensity was compared to the Aquila natural disaster in April 2009 in which 309 people died. Wide cracks had appeared in buildings still standing.
Eleonora Romendini, who was also in the Marche region, said she was uncertain whether to remain in her home after the quake. “One was a friend of mine”, he said. But after the third powerful aftershock she made a decision to run outside to the street, alongside stunned neighbors.
“It was very shocking”, she said. “We were very scared”.
“It lasted for at least 30 seconds”.
The quake hit at 03:36 (01:36 GMT), 100km (65 miles) north-east of Rome.
Much of the building stock in the area is old, and retrofitting it to withstand expected earthquakes is expensive.
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INGV reported 150 aftershocks in the 12 hours following the initial quake, the strongest measuring 5.5. Residents of Rome were woken by the tremors, which rattled furniture, swayed lights and set off vehicle alarms in most of central Italy.
