Two central areas in Italy were struck by a series of earthquakes Wednesday morning, killing at least 11 people. One mayor said his town had been destroyed, and he feared more fatalities.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported that the first quake — a magnitude 6.1 event — struck Perugia province northeast of Rome. The epicenter was about 6 miles southeast of Norcia, USGS reported.
Multiple aftershocks were reported; the earthquake-monitoring center EMSC said 11 had been felt by 11:30 p.m. Tuesday EDT. At least four were major enough for the USGS to track and report — of 4.6, 4.0, 5.5, and 4.3 magnitude.
“The magnitude 6 quake struck at 3:36 a.m. (0136 GMT) and was felt across a broad swath of central Italy, including Rome, where residents felt a long swaying followed by aftershocks. The temblor was felt from the Lazio region into Umbria and Le Marche on the Adriatic coast,” The Associated Press reported.
“The hardest-hit towns were Amatrice and Accumoli near Rieti, some 100 kilometers (80 miles) northeast of Rome, where the air was thick with dust and smelled strongly of gas. The center of Amatrice was devastated, with entire buildings razed. Rocks and metal tumbled onto the streets and dazed residents huddled in piazzas as some 39 aftershocks continued into the early morning hours, some as strong as 5.1,” AP said.
Reports of major damage to the area began trickling in early Wednesday, and the Italian TV network SkyTg24 reported two deaths, an elderly couple, in the town of Arquata del Tronto.
AP said at least 11 were killed in Italy.
“The area is gone. There are people under the rubble, I fear there are deaths,” Sergio Pirozzi, the mayor of Amatrice, told state broadcaster RAI, according to a computer-assisted translation by The Washington Times.
“We can hear people screaming trapped under the ruins. We need help!” he also said, though he added that access roads into the town were blocked.
Italy’s La Reppublica newspaper cited the local Red Cross as “confirming that at least one bridge collapsed” in Amatrice.
Pictures of collapsed buildings throughout central Italy dotted social media and “there has been extensive damage to Castelluccio,” according to La Reppublica.
Pope Francis prayed the rosary with the crowd at St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday on behalf of the victims.
Italy has been hit with three major fatal earthquakes in the past decade. The largest death toll of the three was the 300 people killed in the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake, just south of Wednesday’s epicenter.
All three of those quakes were about the same strength as the latest temblor, ranging from 5.8 magnitude to 6.3.
According to a USGS color-coded map, the quake could be felt throughout central Italy, with the effects in Rome being between “moderate” and “strong.” The immediate area, where the USGS said the shake effects were “very strong,” is a series of small towns and valleys clustering through the Apennine mountains.
Zachary Sussman, the manager of NYU Graduate Creative Writing program and a wine columnist, tweeted from the Umbria region about feeling the tremor.
“Definitely just got woken up by the #earthquake here in Umbria. Bed shaking like crazy. Totally fine, just disoriented,” he wrote.
The earthquake-monitoring center EMSC posted a map of the social-media reactions to the quake which showed that almost all were from some distance away. There was no reaction on the map from near the quake’s epicenter.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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