Death toll in Italian earthquake rises to 73

At least 73 people have died in an earthquake which devastated a string of small towns in central Italy in the early hours of Wednesday, the civil protection department said.

>>Reuters
Published : 24 August 2016, 10:35 AM
Updated : 24 August 2016, 03:09 PM

The quake struck when most residents were asleep, razing homes and buckling roads in a cluster of communities some 140 km (85 miles) east of Rome.

The earthquake caused damage to towns in three regions - Umbria, Lazio and Marche.

The US Geological Survey, which measured the quake at 6.2 magnitude, said it struck near the Umbrian city of Norcia, while Italy's earthquake institute INGV registered it at 6.0 and put the epicentre further south, closer to Accumoli and Amatrice.

The damage was made more severe because the epicentre was at a relatively shallow 4 km below the surface of the earth.

Multiple aftershocks

Residents of Rome were woken by the tremors, which rattled furniture, swayed lights and set off car alarms in most of central Italy.

"It was so strong. It seemed the bed was walking across the room by itself with us on it," Lina Mercantini of Ceselli, Umbria, about 75 km away from the hardest hit area, told Reuters.

Olga Urbani, in the nearby town of Scheggino, said: "Dear God it was awful. The walls creaked and all the books fell off the shelves."

INGV reported 60 aftershocks in the four hours following the initial quake, the strongest measuring 5.5.

Italy sits on two fault lines, making it one of the most seismically active countries in Europe.

The last major earthquake to hit the country struck the central city of L'Aquila in 2009, killing more than 300 people.

The most deadly since the start of the 20th century came in 1908, when an earthquake followed by a tsunami killed an estimated 80,000 people in the southern regions of Reggio Calabria and Sicily.