AMATRICE (ITALY): A massive earthquake shook central Italy, reducing three towns to wreckage and claiming at least 120 people. The figures are, however, likely to rise as the rescue missions are still under way. Mayor of Amatrice, Sergio Pirozzi said, "The town isn't here any more. I believe the toll will rise."
The magnitude 6 temblor shook the Lazio region, Umbria and Le Marche on the Adriatic coast. Premier Matteo Renzi will head to the zone later. Hardest hit were Amatrice and Accumoli near Rieti, 100 km northeast of Rome, and Pescara del Tronto, 25 km further east. Italy's civil protection agency said the provisional toll was 120 dead, several hundred injured. Thousands are currently stranded and in need of temporary housing.
Amatrice centre has bitten the dust in its entirety, blocks of buildings razed and the air thick with dust and smelling strongly of gas. More than 40 aftershocks shook the region further, some as strong as 5.1.
Complicating matters was that the area is a popular vacation spot in summer, with populations swelling, making the number of people in the area at the time difficult to estimate. “The town isn't here anymore,” said Sergio Pirozzi, the mayor of Amatrice. The magnitude 6 quake struck at 3.36 am (0136 GMT) and was felt across a broad swath of central Italy, including Rome, where residents woke to a long swaying followed by aftershocks. The temblor shook the Lazio region and Umbria and Le Marche on the Adriatic coast.
