Italy earthquake: churches, chapels destroyed as magnitude-6.6 tremor hits medieval town

Updated

An earthquake in Italy on Sunday struck the medieval walled town of Norcia as nuns, monks and priests were heading to morning prayer services, giving them just enough time to flee as the walls around them plunged to the ground.

Key points: Magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits central region of Italy causing extensive damage

Churches, monasteries and chapels in the region of Norcia were destroyed

Earlier tremors had prompted people to flee their homes, preventing any deaths when the major quake struck

The quake hit the same central regions that have been rocked by repeated tremors over the past two months.

The magnitude-6.6 earthquake caused extensive damage but no fatalities, despite registering much higher than the earthquake which stuck on August 24 and killed almost 300 people.

Weakened by repeated powerful jolts in recent weeks, many of Norcia's churches, monasteries and chapels were wrecked.

"We thought it was the end of everything," said 74-year-old Sister Maria Raffaella Buoso after being evacuated from the Monastery of the Poor Clares of Santa Maria della Pace.

The United States Geological Survey said the quake was centred 68 kilometres east-southeast of Perugia at a depth of 1.5 kilometres.

Geoscience Australia seismologist Hugh Glanville told the ABC that at that depth, the earthquake was very shallow and had the potential to cause anything nearby to be catastrophically damaged.

"If it's a deep earthquake at 10, 20 or even 30 kilometres, the seismic waves have to travel through more earth before they reach the surface, but at such a shallow depth there is a lot less to dampen the waves effect on the buildings," he said.

Italy's history of earthquakes Oct. 31, 2002 — Earthquake measuring 5.9 hits Campobasso, south-central Italy, killing 30 people, most of them children, in San Giuliano di Puglia.

April 6, 2009 — Earthquake measuring 6.3 strikes the Abruzzo region east of Rome. It kills more than 300 people and devastates the 13th century city of L'Aquila.

May 29, 2012 — 17 people killed, 350 injured in a 5.8 magnitude earthquake that hit the area around Modena in northern Italy, 10 days after a tremor killed 10 in the same area.

Aug 24, 2016 — 297 people killed when a 6.2 magnitude quake hits the central hilltown of Amatrice and nearby towns and villages.

That there were no reports of fatalities was largely due to the fact that thousands had left their homes after the earlier temblors.

Some 20 people suffered minor injuries.

Premier Matteo Renzi pledged that wrecked homes, churches and businesses would rise again, saying they were part of Italy's national identity.

"We will rebuild everything," Mr Renzi said.

"We are dealing with marvellous territories, territories of beauty."

Department head Fabrizio Curcio said the agency was using helicopters to tend to the injured and assess damage.

'It's as if the whole city fell down'

Norcia's historic Basilica of St Benedict was among the buildings destroyed.

The Monks of Norcia tweeted images of the damage and said people were trapped in the town's main square, with fears nearby buildings might collapse.

"Everyone has been suspended in a never-ending state of fear and stress. They are at their wits end," Bishop Renato Boccardo of Norcia said.

"It's as if the whole city fell down," Norcia city assessor Guiseppina Perla told the ANSA news agency.

The destruction of the Norcia basilica is the single most significant loss of Italy's artistic heritage in an earthquake since a tremor in 1997 caused the collapse of the ceiling of the Basilica of St Francis in Assisi.

The basilica and monastery complex dates to the 13th century, although shrines to St Benedict and his sister had been built there since the 8th century.

During his Sunday blessing Pope Francis offered his prayers to those affected.

"I'm praying for the injured and the families who have suffered the most damage, as well as for rescue and first-aid workers."

Priests advised to hold outdoor mass

Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, head of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Umbria, advised parish priests not to hold mass inside churches.

He told priests in the Umbria region to hold mass outdoors, the ANSA news agency said.

The quake was felt as far north as Bolzano, near the border with Austria and as far south as the Puglia region at the southern tip of the Italian peninsula and was felt strongly in the capital Rome.

Marco Rinaldi, Mayor of quake-hit Ussita, north of Norcia, said a huge cloud of smoke erupted from the crumbled buildings.

"It's a disaster, a disaster," he told the ANSA news agency.

"I was sleeping in the car and I saw hell."

The town of Arquata del Tronto, east of Norcia, which was devastated by earthquakes two months ago that killed nearly 300 people and levelled several small towns, suffered fresh damage.

"Everything came down," Mayor Aleandro Petrucci said.

Further south in Amatrice, the St Augustine church, which had survived August's quake, crumbled.

The earthquake followed a series of tremors to strike the country in the past five days.

A magnitude-6.4 earthquake struck east of the city on Wednesday, the second of the evening whose tremors were felt as far away as the capital Rome.

Mr Curcio said 1,300 people displaced by Wednesday's quakes had been evacuated to the coast in recent days.

ABC/wires

Topics: disasters-and-accidents, earthquake, italy

First posted</s>Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Aerial footage shows the devastation to villages in central Italy

Towns and villages in central Italy have been hit by an earthquake for the fourth time in three months.

The 6.6-magnitude quake - Italy's strongest in decades - struck close to the region where nearly 300 people were killed by a quake in August.

This time no-one appears to have died, but about 20 people were injured.

The medieval basilica of St Benedict in Norcia, the town closest to the epicentre, was among buildings destroyed.

An evacuation of buildings in the region deemed vulnerable to seismic activity last week, following strong aftershocks from August's quake, may have saved lives.

Tremors from this latest earthquake were felt in the capital Rome, where the Metro system was shut down, and as far away as Venice in the north.

The head of the national civil protection agency, Fabrizio Curcio, said there had been extensive damage to many historic buildings but no deaths had been registered.

"About 20 people are injured. As far as people are concerned, the situation is positive, but many buildings are in a critical state in historic centres and there are problems with electricity and water supplies," he added.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has promised that everything will be rebuilt, saying resources will be found.

"We are going through a really tough period," he said. "We must not allow the profound pain, fatigue and stress that we have now to turn into resignation."

Image copyright EPA Image caption The medieval basilica erected in St Benedict's name was almost completely destroyed

Pope Francis mentioned the quake in his Sunday blessing in Rome's St Peter's Square.

"I'm praying for the injured and the families who have suffered the most damage, as well as for rescue and first-aid workers," he said to loud applause.

Why multiple quakes are hitting Italy - by Jonathan Amos, BBC science correspondent

We have now seen three magnitude-6 tremors in Italy's Apennines region in just three months.

The big picture is reasonably well understood. Wider tectonic forces in the Earth's crust have led to the Apennines being pulled apart at a rate of roughly 3mm per year - about a 10th of the speed at which your fingernails grow.

But this stress is then spread across a multitude of different faults that cut through the mountains. And this network is fiendishly complicated.

It does now look as though August's event broke two neighbouring faults, starting on one known as the Laga and then jumping across to one called the Vettore.

The mid-week tremors appear to have further broken the northern end of the Vettore. But both in August and mid-week, it seems only the top portions of the faults have gone, and the big question is whether the deeper segments have now failed in the latest event.

Read more from Jonathan Amos

The US Geological Survey said the epicentre of the quake was 68km south-east of the regional centre of Perugia and close to the small town of Norcia, which is believed to be the birthplace of St Benedict.

Images from the town show the almost complete destruction of the medieval basilica erected in St Benedict's name, with just its facade left standing.

"It was like a bomb went off," said the town's deputy mayor, Pierluigi Altavilla.

"We are starting to despair. There are too many quakes now, we can't bear it anymore."

At the scene: James Reynolds in Norcia

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's James Reynolds in Norcia: Many residents "have chosen to stay in the park, the safest place"

The earthquakes have left the residents of Norcia anxious and shattered. Stefano and his family have slept in a camper van since the first quake in August - they decided it was too dangerous to sleep indoors. He's now looking to get his family out of here.

In the hour after I arrived, there were two sizeable aftershocks - which sent bits of masonry from the town's ancient walls to the ground. The aftershocks added to the tension felt by residents here.

An emergency HQ has been set up in a car park. Civil protection officials are assessing the damage.

Next to a petrol station, there is a group of people with their bags packed, ready to leave. They don't want to wait for another quake to hit.

Giuseppe Pezzanesi, mayor of Tolentino in the neighbouring Marche region, said the small town had "suffered our blackest day yet".

"The damage is irreparable. There are thousands of people in the streets, terrified, crying. Let's hope that is an end to it, the people are on their knees psychologically."

The towns of Castelsantangelo and Preci have also suffered considerable damage, but were mainly abandoned after last week's quakes, of magnitude 5.5 and 6.1.

Castelsantangelo's mayor, quoted by La Stampa newspaper, said there were no casualties at all in the town as "everyone had already left".

The mayors of the villages of Ussita and Arquata said many buildings had collapsed there too.

Image copyright AP

Image copyright AFP

Central Italy has seen several major quakes in recent years. Earthquakes which devastated the town of L'Aquila in 2009 and Amatrice in August this year killed about 300 people each.

But they both measured only 6.2 and were deeper than Sunday's earthquake.

Italy's most violent earthquakes since 1900</s>A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 has rocked central Italy, sending already quake-damaged buildings crumbling after a week of tremors that have left thousands homeless.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or death.

Residents already rattled by a constant trembling of the earth rushed into piazzas and streets after being roused from bed by yesterday’s 7:40 am quake.

Nuns rushed out of their church in Norcia as the clock tower appeared about to crumble.

“We are definitely seeing some damage [already],” journalist Seema Gupta, reporting from Rome, told Al Jazeera.

“We are seeing images of smoke covered over buildings that have crumbled to the ground,” she added. “Many are centuries-old buildings not built to modern standards.”

The quake measured 6.6 according to the US Geological Survey and was centred close to the Umbrian town of Norcia, where the historic Basilica of St. Benedict was badly damaged.

The Survey also said the quake was centred 132 km northeast of Rome and 68 km east of Perugia, near the epicentre of last week’s trembols.

It reportedly had a depth of 1.5 km, a relatively shallow quake near the surface but in the norm for the quake-prone Apennine Mountain region.

The earthquake was the biggest since almost 300 people were killed in central Italy on August 24 by a quake that levelled several small towns.— Al Jazeera.</s>A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 has rocked central and southern Italy.

It has sent already damaged buildings crumbling after a week of quakes in the area that have left thousands homeless.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or death.

Residents already rattled by a constant trembling of the earth rushed into piazzas and streets after being roused from bed by the quake which struck at 7.40am local time.

Nuns rushed out of their church in Norcia as the clock tower appeared about to crumble.

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre put the magnitude at 6.6 or 6.5 with an epicentre of 132 kilometres north-east of Rome and 67 kilometres east of Perugia, near the epicentre of last week’s quakes.

The US Geological Survey put the magnitude at 6.6.

The German Research Centre for Geosciences put the magnitude at 6.5 and said it had a depth of 10 kilometres, a relatively shallow quake near the surface but in the norm for the quake-prone Apennine Mountain region.</s>A powerful 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck central Italy on Sunday morning close to the area where nearly 300 people were killed by a quake in August.

The USGS said the quake was centered 6 km (3.7 miles) north of Norcia, a town in the province of Perugia.

The ancient town of Norcia has been left in ruins following the powerful earthquake which knocked its historical 13th century Basilica of St Benedict and other buildings to the ground.

No deaths have been reported, but Civil Protection says a number of people have been injured.

The medieval basilica of St Benedict in Norcia, the town closest to the epicentre, was among buildings destroyed.

An evacuation of buildings in the region deemed vulnerable to seismic activity last week, following strong aftershocks from August’s quake, may have saved lives.

Tremors from this latest earthquake were felt in the capital Rome, where the Metro system was shut down, and as far away as Venice in the north.

The head of the national civil protection agency, Fabrizio Curcio, said there had been extensive damage to many historic buildings but no deaths had been registered.

“About 20 people are injured. As far as people are concerned, the situation is positive, but many buildings are in a critical state in historic centres and there are problems with electricity and water supplies,” he added.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has promised that everything will be rebuilt, saying resources will be found.

“We are going through a really tough period,” he said. “We must not allow the profound pain, fatigue and stress that we have now to turn into resignation.”

Pope Francis mentioned the quake in his Sunday blessing in Rome’s St Peter’s Square.

“I’m praying for the injured and the families who have suffered the most damage, as well as for rescue and first-aid workers,” he said to loud applause.

According to Ansa the cathedral of Saint Maria Silver and the town hall were also reported to have been damaged along with the 4th century church in Rome commonly known as ‘St Paul’s Outside the Walls’.

The news agency reported that cornices fell and cracks appeared in the walls after the quake struck central Italy and shook many buildings in the capital.</s>A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 has rocked central and southern Italy, sending already quake-damaged buildings crumbling after a week of temblors that have left thousands homeless.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or death. Residents already rattled by a constant trembling of the earth rushed into piazzas and streets after being roused from bed by Sunday’s 7:40 a.m. quake. Nuns rushed out of their church in Norcia as the clock tower appeared about to crumble.

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Center put the magnitude at 6.6 or 6.5 with an epicenter 132 kilometers northeast of Rome and 67 kilometers east of Perugia, near the epicenter of last week’s temblors. The U.S. Geological Survey put the magnitude at 6.6.Italita

The German Research Centre for Geosciences put the magnitude at 6.5 and said it had a depth of 10 kilometers, a relatively shallow quake near the surface but in the norm for the quake-prone Apennine Mountain region. – AP</s>A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 has rocked the same area of central and southern Italy hit by a quake in August and a pair of aftershocks last week.

It sent already damaged buildings crumbling after a week of quakes that have left thousands homeless.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths. Residents already rattled by a constant trembling of the earth rushed into piazzas and streets after being roused from bed by quake at 7.40am local time.

Many people had still been sleeping in cars or evacuated to shelters or hotels in other areas after a pair of strong jolts last Wednesday.

Television images showed nuns rushing out of their church and into the main piazza in Norcia as the clock tower appeared about to crumble.

The mayor of quake-hit Ussita said a huge cloud of smoke erupted from the crumbled buildings.

“It’s a disaster, a disaster!” Mayor Marco Rinaldi told the ANSA news agency. “I was sleeping in the car and I saw hell.”

Another hard-hit city, Castelsantangelo sul Nera, also suffered new damage. In Arquata del Tronto, which had been devastated by the August 24 earthquake that killed nearly 300 people, Arquata Mayor Aleandro Petrucci said.

“There are no towns left. Everything came down,” he said.

The quake was felt throughout the Italian peninsula, with reports as far north as Bolzano and as far south as Bari. Residents rushed into the streets in Rome, where ancient palazzi shook, swayed and lurched for a prolonged spell.

The head of the civil protection authority in the March region, Cesare Spuri, said there have been reports of buildings collapsing in many cities.

In Norcia, nuns knelt in prayer and a firefighter appealed to a priest to help maintain calm among dozens of residents gathered there, including some in wheelchairs.

The church, which had withstood the August earthquake in August and last week’s aftershocks, was still standing, but television pictures showed piles of stone had accumulated at the bottom of one wall. One stone was thrown meters into the centre of the piazza, illustrating the quake’s force.

“We have to keep people calm. Prayer can help. I don’t want people to go searching for family members,” the firefighter appealed as cameras from SKY TG24 filmed.

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre put the magnitude at 6.6 or 6.5 with an epicentre 132 kilometres north-east of Rome and 67 kilometres east of Perugia, near the epicentre of last week’s quakes. The US Geological Survey put the magnitude at 6.6.

The German Research Centre for Geosciences put the magnitude at 6.5 and said it had a depth of 10 kilometres, a relatively shallow quake near the surface but in the norm for the quake-prone Apennine Mountain region.</s>A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 has rocked central and southern Italy after a week of temblors that have left thousands homeless.

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Center put the magnitude at 6.6 or 6.5 with an epicenter 132 kilometers northeast of Rome and 67 kilometers east of Perugia, near the epicenter of last week’s temblors. The quake struck at 7-40 a.m.</s>Italy has been rocked by a magnitude 6.6 earthquake, hitting the central Italian region already reeling from a series of large quakes.

The epicentre of the quake, according to initial reports, was about 68km south-west of Perugia and close to the town of Norcia, which had been hit by two successive quakes on Wednesday night that caused extensive damage.

There were no initial reports of fatalities but the head of the civil protection agency, Fabrizio Curcio, said “a dozen” people were injured, with one person described as being in a serious condition.

Emergency services pulled out three people alive from the rubble in the town of Tolentino in Marche.

While there was relief that the area seemed to have been spared mass causalities - in large part because affected areas had already been abandoned after the previous quake - the damage wreaked on ancient structures across the hilly region of Marche and Umbria underscored that the landscape of this historic region would never be the same again.

The quake, which was felt in Rome and Naples, levelled historic structures that had already sustained major damage, including a tower and St Augustine church in Amatrice - the town devastated by a major earthquake in August that killed about 300 people.

In Norcia, a town in Umbria, the basilica of San Benedetto was destroyed, as was the town’s cathedral, where only remnants of the church’s facade still stood.

On Sunday morning, live television images showed firefighters in Norcia’s main square helping people running down small alleyways seeking safety. They included many monks and nuns in their habits from a nearby monastery.

Authorities were also reporting extensive damage in other towns of the region. Apart from Rome and Naples, tremors were also felt in neighbouring countries including Slovenia and Croatia.

“It all came down. Now there is no more town,” said the mayor of Arquata del Tronto, Aleandro Petrucci. There had already been “red zones” in place, abandoned after the previous quakes. “The few people who remained have gone out to the streets and are embracing. Now we’re going around to see what happened,” he said.

Cesare Spuri, the head of civil protection in Marche, said: “There are collapses everywhere. We report collapses in Muccia, Tolentino and in the areas surrounding Macerata. We’re trying to establish if people are underneath the rubble. There was also a strong shock in Ancona.”

“Everything’s collapsed. I see plumes of smoke, it’s a disaster,” said Marco Rinaldi, the mayor of Ussita, a town in the Marche region that was among the worst hit in a 6.1-magnitude quake that struck Italy on Wednesday night.

In Rome, the quake caused far more concern than Wednesday’s as it was felt much more strongly and for a longer period. The city’s metro was shut down for safety checks in case of damage.

“I was woken up by the earthquake,” Gianpaolo Giovannelli, who lives in the Flaminio area of Rome, told the Guardian. “The apartment started to shake. We feel them here in Rome, but we never get used to them so each time we feel fear.”

Assia Staffoli, a mother of two from Rome, said her husband put their six-year-old daughter under the table when they felt the earthquake, which caused their bedrooms, on a mezzanine level, to shake badly.

“That’s what you’re told to do when there’s an earthquake, go under the table,” Ms Staffoli said. “I was feeding my son [aged seven months] when it happened. We then quickly left the apartment.”</s>In this image made from video, firefighters stand in front of a damaged building in Norcia, Italy, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016 after a powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 rocked central and southern Italy following a week of temblors left thousands homeless.

NORCIA, Italy -- Central Italy was hit by another powerful earthquake Sunday, toppling buildings that had recently withstood other major quakes and sending panicked residents back into the streets, but causing no immediate loss of life.

The quake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 was the strongest to strike the country in nearly 36 years. That there were no reports of deaths was largely due to the fact that thousands of residents left their homes after two strong jolts last week shook the same mountainous area.

Some 20 people were injured, many lightly, authorities said.

The Apennine Mountain region of central Italy, located along a major fault line, has been the site of dozens of significant earthquakes, including an Aug. 24 quake with a 6.1 magnitude that killed nearly 300 people.

Back-to-back jolts on Wednesday left thousands more people homeless, but the only death reported resulted from a heart attack.

"It is since 1980 that we have had to deal with an earthquake of this magnitude," Fabrizio Curcio, the head of Italy's Civil Protection agency, said.

Curcio was referring to a 6.9 magnitude quake in a different region that includes Naples that killed some 3,000 people and caused extensive damage in November 1980.

Residents already rattled by a constant trembling of the earth rushed into piazzas and streets after being roused from bed by Sunday's 7:40 a.m. quake. It was felt as far north as Salzburg, Austria and all the way down the Italian peninsula to the Puglia region, the heel of the boot.

Curcio said authorities were responding with helicopters to help the injured and monitor collapses, as many roads were blocked by landslides. Some 3,600 people had already been relocated, many to the coast, following last week's quake, and Curcio said more would follow.

Closest to the epicenter was the ancient city of Norcia, the birthplace of St. Benedict, the father of monasticism and famed for its Benedictine monastery. Witnesses said the 14th Century St. Benedict cathedral collapsed in the quake, with only the facade still standing.

"It's as if the whole city fell down," Norcia city assessor Giuseppina Perla told the ANSA news agency. The city's ancient walls suffered damage, as did another famous Norcia church, St. Mary Argentea, known for its 15th century frescoes.

Television images showed nuns rushing into the main piazza as the bell tower appeared on the verge of collapse. Later, nuns and priests knelt in prayer in the main piazza, and a firefighter appealed to a priest to help keep residents calm in an effort to prevent them from looking for loved ones.

The town's deputy mayor, Pierluigi Altavilla, said his house remained standing, but everything inside had been toppled.

 "It seemed like a bomb exploded inside the house," he told Sky TG24.The quake comes during a long holiday weekend in Italy going into Tuesday's All Saint's Day, when Catholics honor the dead. The head of the church in Umbria, Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, urged priests not to hold Masses during the period inside churches, for fear of further collapses, but in open spaces, ANSA reported.

Adding drama to the event, mayors in some towns, including Castelsantangelo sul Nera, said coffins had been pushed out of their resting place inside the walls of cemeteries, which in Italy are typically walled structures into which coffins are laid.

The quake struck a cluster of mountain towns, many of historic significance, already reeling from last week's pair of aftershocks to last August's deadly quake, including Norcia, Visso, Castelsantangelo sul Nero and Preci.

Some towns and smaller settlements were left isolated by landslides that blocked the roads, and the civil protection authority was responding with helicopters to help the injured, while also monitoring damage.

A civil protection official in the Marche region, Cesare Spuri, said they were trying to determine if people were trapped under downed debris. New collapses also were reported throughout the region, including in Tolentino, where the news agency ANSA said three people were extracted from the rubble.

The hilltop town of Camerino, some 60 kilometers from Ancona, suffered new building collapses but no reports of injuries. City spokesman Emmanuele Pironi said the main fire hall had been rendered uninhabitable and that they had transferred to a warehouse.

"An hour and a half after the quake, we can be reassured," Pironi told The Associated Press.

Pironi said most of the area's 9,000 university students had left after the town's historic center was closed due to danger of collapses last week, and some of the 7,000 residents had been moved to hotels near the coast or to shelters nearby. Few remained in their homes.

The mayor of quake-hit Ussita said a huge cloud of smoke erupted from the crumbled buildings.

"It's a disaster, a disaster!" Mayor Marco Rinaldi told ANSA. "I was sleeping in the car and I saw hell."

In Arquata del Tronto, which had been devastated by the Aug. 24 earthquake that killed nearly 300 people, Arquata Mayor Aleandro Petrucci said, "There are no towns left."

"Everything came down," he said.

The quake sent boulders raining onto state highways and smaller roads, forcing closures throughout the quake zone that was impeding access to hard-hit cities such as Norcia. Traffic was being diverted to other roads.

The Salaria highway, one of the main highways in the region, was closed at certain points as it was after Wednesday's quakes.

In addition, Italy's rail line said some local lines in Umbria and Le Marche were closed as a precaution.

The quake forced the temporary closure of me of Rome's most important tourist sites, including the presidential palace, so authorities could check for damage.

The St. Paul Outside the Walls basilica was closed for several hours after some plaster fell, but was later reopened. Vatican firefighters conducted checks at St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican's other basilicas but found no damage.

The crowds in St. Peter's Square interrupted Pope Francis with applause when he mentioned the quake during his weekly Sunday blessing.

"I'm praying for the injured and the families who have suffered the most damage, as well as for rescue and first aid workers," he said.

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Center put the magnitude of Sunday's earthquake at 6.6 or 6.5 with an epicenter 132 kilometers northeast of Rome and 67 kilometers east of Perugia, near the epicenter of last week's temblors. The U.S. Geological Survey put the magnitude at 6.6.

To date, Italy's deadliest quake in recent history remains the 1908 Messina quake that destroyed the Sicilian city and killed tens of thousands of people.

Winfield reported from Rome, and Barry from Milan.
A 6.6 magnitude earthquake occurs in Central Italy 68 kilometres east southeast of Perugia. Many buildings are reported as having been destroyed.