ITALY, MYANMAR

Other victims included a ninemonth-old baby whose parents survived.

But two other children aged four and seven were saved by their quickthinking grandmother, who ushered them under a bed as soon as the shaking began, according to reports.

Meanwhile, a powerful 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit north-central Myanmar Wednesday, the US Geological Survey reported, with tremors felt around the region.

The quake, which the agency said struck at a depth of 84 kilometers, swayed high-rise buildings in the Thai capital of Bangkok, AFP journalists reported.

It was also felt in the Indian city of Kolkata. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

‘Half the village disappeared’

Italy experienced most powerful earthquake since 2009, when some 300 people died in and around the city of L’Aquila, just to the south of the area hit on Wednesday.

- celled a planned trip to France for a meeting with European Socialist leaders and other engagements to oversee the response to the disaster.

“The situation is dramatic, there are many dead,” said Amatrice mayor disappeared.”

Pope Francis interrupted his weekly audience in St Peter’s Square to express his shock.

“To hear the mayor of Amatrice say his village no longer exists and knowing that there are children among the victims, is very upsetting for me,” he said.

- cio classed the quake as “severe.” The shocks were strong enough to wake kilometers away.

The worst damage was suffered by Pescara del Tronto, a hamlet near Arquata in the Marche region which “just completely disintegrated,” according to local mayor Aleandro Petrucci.

Ten bodies had been recovered there by midday and rescuers were braced for further fatalities.

Accumoli mayor Stefano Petrucci fought back tears as he described the scenes as “a tragedy.”

“There are people under the ruins, it is not a good situation.”

Gastronomic beauty spot

Amatrice is a hilltop beauty spot famed as the home of amatriciana, one of Italy’s favorite pasta sauces, and seeking cool mountain air at the height of the summer.

It was packed with visitors when the quake struck at 3:36 a.m. (0136 GMT).

Three minutes later the clock on the village’s 13th-century tower stopped.

The first quake measured 6.2, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), which said it occurred at a shallow depth of 10 kilometers. It measured 6.0 according to Italian monitors.

- lowed an hour later.

In 2009, a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck close to the university and left more than 300 people dead.

That disaster led to lengthy recriminations over lax building controls and the failure of authorities to warn residents that a quake could be imminent.

- etary Geosciences at Britain’s Open University, said Wednesday’s quake had been similar to the 2009 one.

“Both occurred at a shallow depth, which exacerbates the shaking at the surface,” he said.

“Unlike the L’Aquila quake, which was preceded by swarms of smaller in my view—that the eventual big quake should have been predicted, this one appears to have struck out of the blue.”

Italy is often shaken by earthquakes, usually centered on the mountainous spine of the bootshaped country.

Another quake hit the northern 2012, when two violent shocks 10 days apart left 23 people dead and 14,000 others homeless.

Myanmar quake

The epicenter of the Myanmar quake was near Chauk, a town on the kilometers northwest of Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw.

Soe Win, a regional MP from the township in Magway region, told AFP the tremors lasted for several minutes.

“There was also some sound as well. A pagoda collapsed in Salay and a building also collapsed,” he told AFP, adding that he has not yet heard of any casualties.

The USGS estimated that the im but noted that many buildings in the region are “highly vulnerable” to earthquake shaking.

Earthquakes are relatively common in Myanmar, though the country has not seen a major quake since 2012.

The last major quake struck in a nearby region in April and caused minor damages but no casualties.