5.4-MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE HITS CENTRAL ITALY AND ROME

QUAKE COMES JUST TWO MONTHS AFTER POWERFUL TEMBLOR TOPPLED VILLAGES, KILLING NEARLY 300

A5.4-magnitude earthquake rattled central Italy on Wednesday, knocking out power, closing a major motorway and sending panicked residents into the streets just two months after a powerful temblor killed nearly 300 people.

There were scattered reports of damage to buildings, including with pieces of masonry crumbling down, but no immediate reports of victims, said Ornella De Luca, a spokeswoman for Italy’s civil protection agency.

“We’re without power, waiting for emergency crews,” said the mayor of Castel Santangelo Sul Nera, a tiny town just north of some of the hard-hit areas of the August 24 quake.

Speaking to Sky TG24, he said: “We can’t see anything. It’s tough. Really tough.”

He said some buildings had collapsed but that there were no immediate reports of injuries. He added that darkness and a downpour were impeding a full accounting.

Italy’s National Vulcanology Centre said the quake struck at 7.10pm local time with an epicentre at Macerata, near Perugia in the quake-prone Apennine Mountain chain.

The US Geological Survey put the epicentre near Visso and said it had a depth of some 10 kilometres.

Experts say even relatively modest quakes that have shallow depths can cause significant damage because the seismic waves are closer to the surface.

Seismologist Gianluca Valensise said a 10-kilometre depth is within the norm for an Apennine temblor.

The August 24th quake destroyed the hilltop village of Amatrice and other nearby towns, and had a depth of about 10 kilometres.

“There’s a lot of fear, but it would seem, fortunately, from the first reports no problems for people,” said the deputy mayor of Norcia, Pietro Luigi Altavilla.

Wednesday’s quake was felt from Perugia in Umbria to the capital Rome to the central Italian town of L’Aquila, which was struck by a deadly quake in 2009.

The mayor of L’Aquila, however, said there was no immediate report of damage.

A section of a major state motorway north of Rome, the Salaria, was closed near Arquata del Tronto because of a quake-induced landslide, said Ms De Luca.

The mayor of Arquata del Tronco, Aleandro Petrucci, said the quake seemed stronger than the August temblor, which devastated parts of his town.

He said there were no reports of injuries to date and that the zone hardest hit by the last quake remained uninhabitable. “We don’t worry because there is no one in the red zone, if something fell, walls fell,” he said.

In Rome, some 145 miles south-west from the epicentre, centuries-old palazzi shook and officials at the Foreign Ministry evacuated the building.

The quake was actually an aftershock of the magnitude 6.2 earthquake from two months ago.

Because it was so close to the surface, it has the potential to cause more shaking and more damage, “coupled with infrastructure that’s vulnerable to shaking,” said US Geological Survey seismologist Paul Earle.

Guide to Richter Scale

1.0–1.9 – Not felt, or felt rarely. 2.0–2.9 – Felt slightly by some people. No damage to buildings.

3.0–3.9 – Often felt by people, but very rarely causes damage. Shaking of indoor objects can be noticeable.

4.0–4.9 – Noticeable shaking of indoor objects and rattling noises. Felt by most people in the affected area. Slightly felt outside. Generally causes none to minimal damage.

5.0–5.9 – Can cause damage of varying severity to poorly constructed buildings. Felt by everyone in area.

6.0–6.9 – Damage to a moderate number of well-built structures in populated areas. Earthquake-resistant structures survive with slight to moderate damage. Poorly designed structures receive moderate to severe damage. Strong to violent shaking in epicentral area.

7.0–7.9 – Causes damage to most buildings, some to partially or completely collapse or receive severe damage. Welldesigned structures are likely to receive damage. Felt across great distances with major damage mostly limited to 250km from epicenter.

8.0–8.9 – Major damage to buildings, structures likely to be destroyed. Will cause moderate to heavy damage to sturdy or earthquake-resistant buildings.

9.0 and greater – At or near total destruction – severe damage or collapse to all buildings.