Multiple moderate earthquakes struck central Italy Wednesday afternoon, shaking many of the same towns that were devastated by a pair of devastating tremors last year.

The U.S. Geological Survey said four earthquakes of magnitude 5.1 or higher were located near the town of Amatrice, the first of which struck at 10:25 a.m. local time (4:25 a.m. EST) Wednesday morning. The largest tremor was a 5.7, which was reported 3 miles west-southwest of Amatrice at 11:14 a.m. local time. Preliminary reports showed all of the quakes had a depth of 6.2 miles.

Speaking in Berlin after a meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Premier Paolo Gentiloni said, "Luckily it seems there were no deaths," according to the Associated Press. Shaking was felt as far away as Rome, and as a precaution, the subway was shut down in Rome, and parents were asked to pick up their children from school early, the AP also reported.

(MORE: How to Help the Victims of the Deadly 2016 Italy Earthquakes )

Officials told local media that heavy snow in central Italy crippled travel in recent days, which would further complicate rescue and relief efforts. In some areas, electricity was already knocked out by the storms, and the earthquakes knocked out phone service and sent some residents into a panic.

"The situation is really getting extreme," said Franco Campitelli, the mayor of Canzano. "It's snowing hard. We're without electricity. We hope the army gets here soon with snow plows or we risk being completely isolated," he told Sky TG24.

The region is rebuilding from a pair of devastating earthquakes that collapsed many buildings and killed upwards of 300 last year. In August, a 6.2 magnitude quake largely wiped out towns and killed at least 240 , according to the New York Times. Two months later, a 6.6 magnitude tremor – the strongest to hit Italy in more than 30 years – left more injuries and damage in the same areas , CNN reported.

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: The Deadliest Earthquakes Since 1990</s>Many dead are feared dead in avalanche-hit hotel after three strong earthquakes hit Italy,

"Many dead" in avalanche-hit hotel after quake, reports said.

Three strong earthquakes rocked central Italy on Monday with the tremors being felt in Rome.

Till Wednesday, there were no immediate reports of casualties but emergency services said they received thousands of phone calls from people in the quake zone.

The first quake measured a magnitude of 5.3 and struck between the Abruzzo regional capital L'Aquila and Rieti in northern Lazio at a depth of 10 km, Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanolgy reported.

The quake's epicentre was three kilometres from the Abruzzo town of Montereale and nine kilometres from the Lazio hill town of Amatrice, the institute said.

The second tremor's epicentre was in the same area and struck less than an an hour later at 11.15 a.m. with a magnitude of 5.4, according to the institute.

A third magnitude 5.3 quake followed immediately afterwards.

Rome's underground was evacuated after the second earthquake and so were several schools in the capital.

Schools in Rieti were also evacuated as a precaution, its Mayor Simone Petrangeli said.

The earthquakes followed 36 hours of continuous snowfall in the mountainous areas of central Italy, where 300,000 people went without electricity in Abruzzo on Tuesday.

The quakes are the latest to hit the central Apennines after 300 people died in a magnitude 6.2 tremor in August that flattened Amatrice's historic centre and devastated several nearby hill towns.

Two further quakes rattled the region in October, with the most powerful measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale.</s>At least 22 guests and several staff members were in the Hotel Rigopiano, at the foot of the Gran Sasso mountain, when it was hit by the avalanche on Wednesday, Antonio Crocetta, a rescue group leader in the area told Italian state media.

Two people have been rescued from the site, the head of Italy's Civil Protection Department, Fabrizio Curcio, said in a media briefing. Weather conditions are making the rescue operation difficult, he said.

Rescue workers had not been able to reach the area until the early hours of Thursday as heavy snowfall hit central Italy for several days. The area is a popular ski destination, mostly with Italian tourists.

Central Italy was rocked by more than 10 tremors on Wednesday, four of them above a magnitude of 5, according to the US Geological Survey.

An initial 5.3-magnitude quake hit in the morning near the town of of Amatrice, a town devastated by powerful quakes last year. The tremors continued for more than six hours, with one as strong as magnitude 5.7. While the epicenter was 90 kilometers northeast of Rome, the quake was felt in the capital, sending people running from buildings in a panic. All the aftershocks have hit around Amatrice, in the mountainous regions of Marche, Lazio and Abruzzo. Nearly 300 people died in central Italy in quakes around Amatrice in August , and the town center, once popular with tourists, was reduced to rubble.</s>ROME (CNN) — At least one person has died and many others are feared dead after an avalanche buried a hotel in central Italy following a series of earthquakes.

At least 22 guests and several staff members were at the Hotel Rigopiano at the foot of the Gran Sasso mountain when it was hit by the avalanche on Wednesday, Antonio Crocetta, a rescue group leader in the area told Italian state media.

Two people have been rescued from the site, the head of Italy’s Civil Protection Department, Fabrizio Curcio, said in a media briefing. Weather conditions are making the rescue operation difficult, he said.

Rescue workers had not been able to reach the area until the early hours of Thursday as heavy snowfall hit central Italy for several days. The area is a popular ski destination, mostly with Italian tourists.

Central Italy was rocked by more than 10 tremors on Wednesday, four of them above a magnitude of 5, according to the US Geological Survey.

An initial 5.3-magnitude quake hit in the morning near the town of of Amatrice, a town devastated by powerful temblors last year, and the tremors continued for more than six hours, including one as strong as 5.7.

While the epicenter was 90 kilometers northeast of Rome, the quake was felt strongly in the capital, sending people running from buildings in a panic.

All the aftershocks have hit around Amatrice, in the mountainous regions of Marche, Lazio and Abruzzo.

Nearly 300 people died in central Italy in quakes around Amatrice in August, and the town center, once popular with tourists, was reduced to rubble.</s>Story highlights Nine aftershocks reported after initial quake

"Catastrophic weather" blocking roads to some affected areas

Rome (CNN) The metro system and some schools in Italy's capital, Rome, were evacuated Wednesday following a series of powerful earthquakes that struck the heart of the country.

An initial 5.3-magnitude quake hit central Italy this morning 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) west-northwest of Amatrice, a town devastated by powerful temblors last year, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported.

While the epicenter was 90 kilometers northeast of Rome, the quake was felt strongly in the capital, sending people running from buildings in a panic.

At least nine aftershocks have been reported since the initial quake, including one as strong as 5.7, and all at a shallow 10 kilometers deep or less, the USGS reported.

(18gen-12:00) #Terremoto, proseguono controlli, 850 #vigilidelfuoco impegnati nel cratere. No richieste soccorso per coinvolti da crolli pic.twitter.com/du9KxJlrME — Vigili del Fuoco (@emergenzavvf) January 18, 2017

There are no immediate reports of casualties or damage, but firefighters told CNN that heavy snow blocking roads to some affected areas has hampered their initial assessment.

Read More</s>ROME (CNN) -- The metro system and some schools in Italy's capital, Rome, were being evacuated Wednesday following a series of powerful earthquakes that struck the heart of the country.

An initial 5.3-magnitude quake hit central Italy 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) west-northwest of Amatrice, a town devastated by powerful temblors last year, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported.

While the epicenter was 90 kilometers northeast of Rome, the quake was felt strongly in the capital, sending people running from buildings in a panic.

It struck at 10:25 am (4:25 am ET) at a shallow depth of 10 kilometers and has been followed by eight aftershocks in the same area, including one as strong as 5.7, the USGS reported.

There are no immediate reports of casualties or damage but firefighters told CNN that heavy snow blocking roads has hampered their initial assessment.

Around 850 firefighters are engaged but there have been no requests for rescues so far, the Italian Fire Department said in a Twitter post.

Disaster authorities in Rome said they had been inundated with hundreds of calls from the city.

Officials have begun looking for cracks and damage to structures in the city, many of them ancient and vulnerable from previous tremors.

All the aftershocks have all hit around Amatrice, in the mountainous regions of Marche, Lazio and Abruzzo.

Nearly 300 people died in central Italy in quakes around Amatrice in August, and the town center, once popular with tourists, was reduced to rubble.

Another series of quakes hit the region in October, but the impact was small as most people had evacuated from the previous tremors.

"I don't know if we did something bad. That's what I have been asking since yesterday," Amatrice Mayor Sergio Pirozzi told the AFP news agency.

"We have got up to two meters of snow and now another earthquake. What can I say? I have no words."

Italy lies atop the convergence of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates, making it the most quake-exposed country in the Mediterranean.</s>A series of strong earthquakes have hit snowbound central Italy, a region devastated by deadly tremors last year, killing one man and forcing schools and rail links to close. Four quakes of magnitude 5.2 and higher struck near the hill town of Amatrice, some 100km northeast of Rome, in the space of four hours on Wednesday.

Start the conversation, or Read more at The Otago Daily Times.</s>The metro system and some schools in Italy’s capital, Rome, were being evacuated Wednesday following a series of powerful earthquakes that struck the heart of the country.

An initial 5.3-magnitude quake hit central Italy 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) west-northwest of Amatrice, a town devastated by powerful temblors last year, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported.

While the epicenter was 90 kilometers northeast of Rome, the quake was felt strongly in the capital, sending people running from buildings in a panic.

It struck at 10:25 am (4:25 am ET) at a shallow depth of 10 kilometers and has been followed by six aftershocks in the same area, including one as strong as 5.7, the USGS reported.

There are no immediate reports of casualties or damage but firefighters told CNN that heavy snow blocking roads has hampered their initial assessment.

Around 850 firefighters are engaged but there have been no requests for rescues so far, the Italian Fire Department said in a Twitter post.

Disaster authorities in Rome said they had been inundated with hundreds of calls from the city.

Officials have begun looking for cracks and damage to structures in the city, many of them ancient and vulnerable from previous tremors.

Nearly 300 people were killed in central Italy in an August quake and a series of aftershocks that reduced much of Amatrice’s center to rubble.

Another series of quakes hit the region in October, but the impact was small as most people had evacuated from the previous tremors.</s>A wave of strong earthquakes shook central Italy in the morning of 18 January, the Italian earthquake institute INGV reported.

The first had a 5.3 magnitude and struck around 10.25am local time (9.25am GMT), the second earthquake of 5.4 magnitude followed less than an hour later (10.15am GMT). A third one of equal magnitude struck 10 minutes later, at 10.25am GMT.

The epicentre was near L'Aquila, the town in the Appenini mountain that was largely destroyed by a powerful quake in 2009. The tremors, felt around the area affected by other strong quakes in August and October 2016 in the Umbria, Marche and Abruzzo regions, was also felt in Lazio, where Rome is located.

The metro in Rome was closed down. The motorway A24, connecting Rome, L'Aquila and Teramo was shut down as the authorities evaluate damages from the quake. Schools in Rome, and other towns, evacuated their students as a precaution.

In the Marche region, on the east coast of Italy, an avalanche alert was issued by the regional civil defence (Protezione Civile in Italian).

There are still thousands of people who live in makeshift accommodations or tents – having lost their homes to previous earthquakes – who are facing a cold winter and snowstorms. In some areas, more than 1 metre and a half of snow has fallen in the past few days, leaving some people isolated and complicating relief efforts.

The head of the civil defence Fabrizio Curcio told SkyNews Italy that the winter weather has aggravated the already dire situation in the area. "We had some [buildings] collapsing over night due to the snow".

He explained that structures that were weakened by the repeated earthquakes (more than 45,000 waves of various strength have been felt since August) are now more frail than ever due to the weight of the snow.

Local media reported that the bell tower of the Church of Sant'Agostino in Amatrice collapsed following the earthquake, but there was no official confirmation at the time of writing.

This is a breaking news story. More to follow.</s>Having not yet recovered from the severe earthquakes of recent months, central Italy was struck by 10 earthquakes in succession over a four-hour period Wednesday, all of them registering over 4.0 on the Richter Scale.

Wednesday’s earthquakes varied in magnitude between 4.1 and 5.7, and several lasted a significant amount of time.

The first quake, measuring 5.3, struck the beleaguered city of Amatrice at 10:25am local time, and the shock waves could be felt in contiguous regions and all the way south in Rome. Amatrice had already been laid waste by a powerful earthquake last August 24, which destroyed the town and left nearly 300 dead. After the quake, the mayor of Amatrice announced: “The town is gone.”

The second quake—the strongest of all—hit just a few miles from the epicenter of the first, 45 minutes later. In all, five of the 10 quakes struck within five miles of Amatrice.

The bell tower of the church of Sant’Agostino was one of the few monuments in Amatrice to survive last summer’s earthquake, but Wednesday’s quakes finished the job, bringing the tower crumbling to the ground.

To add insult to injury, central Italy had been covered with snow prior to the quakes and was suffering from exceptionally cold temperatures.

Civil Protection Chief Fabrizio Curcio said that the wide scope of the tremors, along with the snow, made a comprehensive assessment of the situation difficult. “The situation is quite complicated,” Curcio said. “We are receiving reports from all over the nation. Obviously the quake was felt clearly all over the center, as far as the capital.”

In Rome, children were sent home from school at mid morning, public buildings were evacuated and authorities shut down the subway system.

Wednesday’s seismic activity was the third major event of its kind in Italy in less than half a year. The August 24 earthquake demolished several towns of central Italy, including Amatrice, and three more quakes during the night of Oct 26-27 wreaked still more devastation and displaced thousands of persons.

The October earthquakes reportedly shook Rome’s world heritage ancient buildings, including the Colosseum and Pantheon, and some of the damage has not yet been repaired.
Four earthquakes of magnitude 5.1 or higher strike near Amatrice, Italy, forcing evacuation of some schools and the Rome Metro. No deaths are reported from the quakes.