LONDON — Italian rescue workers scrambled to reach survivors in isolated towns and villages across central Italy on Wednesday after a 6.2-magnitude earthquake and a series of strong aftershocks struck the region overnight, collapsing homes, rattling ancient buildings as far away as Rome and Venice and leaving a climbing toll of dead and injured.
The main earthquake, centered a shallow 5.5 miles below ground, struck at 3:36 a.m. local time and about 10 miles from the town of Norcia in Umbria, a central Italian province known for its rolling hills of olive plantations and vineyards. Towns and cities in a sprawling zone including the provinces of Lazio to Marche were also hard hit, with images showing heavy piles of rubble from fallen ancient structures. The blocked roads, officials said, were hindering rescuers attempting to access residents. Officials told Italy’s state-broadcaster RAI television that at least six people had died, including a family with two children in the central Italian town of Accumoli. Reuters put the death toll as high as 10.
A string of aftershocks as strong as 5.5-magnitude continued to hit the affected zone, catching the country coming during the high August vacation period when large numbers of Italians stage and exodus from cities and towns for annual holidays.
Luca Cari, spokesman for the Italian fire department, told Reuters that the worst hit towns were Accumoli, Amatrice, Posta and Arquata del Tronto. Rescue workers were preparing to take to the air in helicopters to assess the damage at dawn.
Sergio Pirozzi, the mayor of the town of Amatrice in the province of Lazio told RAI that residents were buried under the debris of collapsed buildings and that “the town isn’t here anymore.” Video and still images showed damaged archways and partially collapsed buildings. Pirozzi issued alarming assessments, saying debris was so bad that streets could not be cleared to reach stranded residents.
A map by the US Geological Survey (USGS) shows the location of a 6.2 magnitude earthquake that struck in central Italy. (USGS/EPA)“The streets are not passable and there are people under the rubble,” he told Rai. “We are trying by all means to bring first aid , but we are working without light.
Later, the ANSA news agency reported that two bodies were pulled from the rubble in Amatrice.
The mayor of another hard hit town, Accumoli, described extensive damage and casualties.
“Four people are under the rubble, but they are not showing any sign of life. Two parents and two children,” the mayor, Stefano Petrucci, told RAI.
In Norcia, close to the epicenter, a number of homes reinforced to withstand earthquakes appeared to limit the damage, although authorities there reported injuries and people stranded in the streets.
Aid stations were being set up to distribute warm drinks. “Now we are trying to set up camps,” city councilor Giuseppina Perla told RAI.
The European Mediterranean Seismological Center and the U.S. Geological Survey reported the main quake had a magnitude at 6.2, strong enough to wake residents in Rome some 105 miles to the south.
“This was very, very bad, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Sabrina Sbermola, a resident of the central Italian town of Arquata el Tronto told the BBC.
The earthquake evoked memories of 2009, when a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck further south, killing more than 300 people. That quake was centered around L’Aquila, about 54 miles south of the latest quake.
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