Rome: A powerful 6.2 magnitude earthquake ripped through the mountains in central Italy on Wednesday, claiming at least 159 lives as it flattened several villages and towns.
“At least 120 people have been killed and 368 injured in an earthquake that hit a mountainous area of central Italy. This is not a final toll,” said Prime Minister Matteo Renzi
A series of aftershocks struck towns in the region, toppling scores of buildings, according to reports. Many persons are still believed trapped beneath building debris, while rescuers were struggling to reach remote villages and towns levelled in the quake.
The Prime Minister had paid tribute to the volunteers and civil defence officials who rushed to the scene in the middle of the night and used their bare hands to dig for survivors.
The earthquake struck at a shallow depth of 10 km. The epicentre of the quake was in Norcia in Umbria, about 170 km north-east of Rome, while the hardest hit were the towns of Amatrice, Accumoli and Pescara del Tronto.
Much of the town of Amatrice was reduced to rubble. Amatrice is known for its traditional all’amatriciana pasta sauce, and was gearing up to hold a festival celebrating the recipe this weekend. The town is popular with holidaymakers and most of the 2,500 people left displaced by the earthquake were said to be visitors.
Another hard-hit town was Pescara del Tronto, in the Le Marche region, where the main road was covered in debris.
Residents were digging their neighbors out by hand before emergency crews arrived. Aerial photos taken by regional firefighters showed the town essentially flattened and under a thick gray coat of dust; Italy requested EU satellite images of the whole area to get the scope of the damage.
The Italian branch of the Red Cross sent at least 20 ambulances and sniffer dogs to affected areas alongside the Italian Defence Ministry.
A 1997 quake killed a dozen people in central Italy and severely damaged one of the jewels of Umbria, the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, filled with Giotto frescoes. The Franciscan friars who are the custodians of the basilica reported no immediate damage from Wednesday’s temblor.
Pope Francis skipped his traditional catechism for his Wednesday general audience and instead invited the thousands of pilgrims in St Peter’s Square to recite the rosary with him. He also sent a six-man squad from the Vatican’s fire department to help with the rescue.
