Earthquake in Italy kills at least 120 people

DISASTER: Three towns reduced to rubble and death toll likely to rise, say authorities

Rescue crews using bulldozers and their bare hands raced to dig out survivors following a strong earthquake that has reduced three central Italian towns to rubble.

The death toll stood at 120, but the number of dead and missing was uncertain given the huge number of tourists in the area.

Residents woke to find what they described as apocalyptic scenes “like Dante’s Inferno,” with blocks of buildings turned into piles of sand and rock.

“The town isn’t here anymore,” said Sergio Pirozzi, the mayor of the hardest-hit town, Amatrice.

The magnitude-6.2 quake struck at 3.36am local time yesterday and was felt across a broad swath of central Italy, including Rome..

The quake shook the Lazio region and Umbria and Le Marche on the Adriatic coast, a highly seismic area that has witnessed major quakes in the past.

Dozens of people were pulled out alive by rescue teams and volunteers that poured in from around Italy.

“She’s alive,” two women cheered as they ran up a street in Pescara del Tronto, one of the three hardest hit hamlets, after an eight-year-old girl was pulled from the rubble after nightfall.

And there were wails when bodies emerged.

“Unfortunately, 90% we pull out are dead, but some make it, that’s why we are here,” said Christian Bianchetti, a volunteer from Rieti who was working in devastated Amatrice where floodlights were set up so the rescue could continue through the night.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi visited the zone, greeted rescue teams and survivors, and said the death toll was likely to rise. At least 368 were injured. Worst affected were the small towns of Amatrice and Accumoli near Rieti, around 60 miles north-east of Rome, and Pescara del Tronto, further east.

Italy’s civil protection agency set up tent areas around each hamlet to accommodate the thousands of homeless.