‘The town isn’t here any more’

A devastating earthquake rocked central Italy yesterday, collapsing homes on residents as they slept.

At least 38 people died in hard-hit towns where rescue crews raced to dig survivors out of the rubble, but the toll was likely to rise as crews reached more remote hamlets.

“The town isn’t here any more,” said Amatrice Mayor Sergio Pirozzi.

The magnitude 6 quake struck at 3.36am local time and was felt across a broad swathe 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 hardest-hit towns were Amatrice, Accumoli near Rieti, about 100km northeast of Rome, and Pescara del Tronto further east.

Italy’s civil protection agency said the early toll was 38 dead, several hundred injured and thousands in need of temporary housing, though it stressed the numbers were fluid.

The centre of Amatrice was devastated, with entire buildings razed and the air thick with dust and smelling strongly of gas.

Rocks and metal tumbled on to the streets and dazed residents huddled in piazzas as about 39 aftershocks jolted the region, some up to 5.1.

“The whole ceiling fell but did not hit me,” marvelled resident Maria Gianni. “I just managed to put a pillow on my head and I wasn’t hit luckily, just slightly injured my leg.”

Another woman, sitting draped in a blanket in front of her destroyed home, said she didn’t know what had become of her loved ones.

“It was one of the most beautiful towns of Italy and now there’s nothing left,” she said, distraught.

As day dawned, residents, civil protection workers and even priests began digging out with shovels, bulldozers and their bare hands, trying to reach survivors. There was relief as a woman was pulled out alive from one building, followed by a dog.

“We need chainsaws, shears to cut iron bars, and jacks to remove beams: everything, we need everything,” civil protection worker Andrea Gentili said. Italy’s national blood drive association appealed for donations.

The devastation harked back to the 2009 quake that killed more than 300 people in and around L’Aquila, about 90km south of the latest quake. The town sent emergency teams yesterday to help with the rescue.

Photos taken from the air by firefighters showed Pescara del Tronto essentially flattened.

In Amatrice, Pirozzi estimated dozens of residents were buried under collapsed buildings and that heavy equipment was needed to clear streets clogged with debris.

Premier Matteo Renzi’s office said heavy equipment was arriving.

Pope Francis skipped his traditional catechism and instead invited pilgrims in St Peter’s Square to recite the rosary with him.