Many dead are feared dead in avalanche-hit hotel after three strong earthquakes hit Italy,

"Many dead" in avalanche-hit hotel after quake, reports said.

Three strong earthquakes rocked central Italy on Monday with the tremors being felt in Rome.

Till Wednesday, there were no immediate reports of casualties but emergency services said they received thousands of phone calls from people in the quake zone.

The first quake measured a magnitude of 5.3 and struck between the Abruzzo regional capital L'Aquila and Rieti in northern Lazio at a depth of 10 km, Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanolgy reported.

The quake's epicentre was three kilometres from the Abruzzo town of Montereale and nine kilometres from the Lazio hill town of Amatrice, the institute said.

The second tremor's epicentre was in the same area and struck less than an an hour later at 11.15 a.m. with a magnitude of 5.4, according to the institute.

A third magnitude 5.3 quake followed immediately afterwards.

Rome's underground was evacuated after the second earthquake and so were several schools in the capital.

Schools in Rieti were also evacuated as a precaution, its Mayor Simone Petrangeli said.

The earthquakes followed 36 hours of continuous snowfall in the mountainous areas of central Italy, where 300,000 people went without electricity in Abruzzo on Tuesday.

The quakes are the latest to hit the central Apennines after 300 people died in a magnitude 6.2 tremor in August that flattened Amatrice's historic centre and devastated several nearby hill towns.

Two further quakes rattled the region in October, with the most powerful measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale. </s> Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Aerial footage shows the devastation to villages in central Italy

Towns and villages in central Italy have been hit by an earthquake for the fourth time in three months.

The 6.6-magnitude quake - Italy's strongest in decades - struck close to the region where nearly 300 people were killed by a quake in August.

This time no-one appears to have died, but about 20 people were injured.

The medieval basilica of St Benedict in Norcia, the town closest to the epicentre, was among buildings destroyed.

An evacuation of buildings in the region deemed vulnerable to seismic activity last week, following strong aftershocks from August's quake, may have saved lives.

Tremors from this latest earthquake were felt in the capital Rome, where the Metro system was shut down, and as far away as Venice in the north.

The head of the national civil protection agency, Fabrizio Curcio, said there had been extensive damage to many historic buildings but no deaths had been registered.

"About 20 people are injured. As far as people are concerned, the situation is positive, but many buildings are in a critical state in historic centres and there are problems with electricity and water supplies," he added.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has promised that everything will be rebuilt, saying resources will be found.

"We are going through a really tough period," he said. "We must not allow the profound pain, fatigue and stress that we have now to turn into resignation."

Image copyright EPA Image caption The medieval basilica erected in St Benedict's name was almost completely destroyed

Pope Francis mentioned the quake in his Sunday blessing in Rome's St Peter's Square.

"I'm praying for the injured and the families who have suffered the most damage, as well as for rescue and first-aid workers," he said to loud applause.

Why multiple quakes are hitting Italy - by Jonathan Amos, BBC science correspondent

We have now seen three magnitude-6 tremors in Italy's Apennines region in just three months.

The big picture is reasonably well understood. Wider tectonic forces in the Earth's crust have led to the Apennines being pulled apart at a rate of roughly 3mm per year - about a 10th of the speed at which your fingernails grow.

But this stress is then spread across a multitude of different faults that cut through the mountains. And this network is fiendishly complicated.

It does now look as though August's event broke two neighbouring faults, starting on one known as the Laga and then jumping across to one called the Vettore.

The mid-week tremors appear to have further broken the northern end of the Vettore. But both in August and mid-week, it seems only the top portions of the faults have gone, and the big question is whether the deeper segments have now failed in the latest event.

Read more from Jonathan Amos

The US Geological Survey said the epicentre of the quake was 68km south-east of the regional centre of Perugia and close to the small town of Norcia, which is believed to be the birthplace of St Benedict.

Images from the town show the almost complete destruction of the medieval basilica erected in St Benedict's name, with just its facade left standing.

"It was like a bomb went off," said the town's deputy mayor, Pierluigi Altavilla.

"We are starting to despair. There are too many quakes now, we can't bear it anymore."

At the scene: James Reynolds in Norcia

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's James Reynolds in Norcia: Many residents "have chosen to stay in the park, the safest place"

The earthquakes have left the residents of Norcia anxious and shattered. Stefano and his family have slept in a camper van since the first quake in August - they decided it was too dangerous to sleep indoors. He's now looking to get his family out of here.

In the hour after I arrived, there were two sizeable aftershocks - which sent bits of masonry from the town's ancient walls to the ground. The aftershocks added to the tension felt by residents here.

An emergency HQ has been set up in a car park. Civil protection officials are assessing the damage.

Next to a petrol station, there is a group of people with their bags packed, ready to leave. They don't want to wait for another quake to hit.

Giuseppe Pezzanesi, mayor of Tolentino in the neighbouring Marche region, said the small town had "suffered our blackest day yet".

"The damage is irreparable. There are thousands of people in the streets, terrified, crying. Let's hope that is an end to it, the people are on their knees psychologically."

The towns of Castelsantangelo and Preci have also suffered considerable damage, but were mainly abandoned after last week's quakes, of magnitude 5.5 and 6.1.

Castelsantangelo's mayor, quoted by La Stampa newspaper, said there were no casualties at all in the town as "everyone had already left".

The mayors of the villages of Ussita and Arquata said many buildings had collapsed there too.

Image copyright AP

Image copyright AFP

Central Italy has seen several major quakes in recent years. Earthquakes which devastated the town of L'Aquila in 2009 and Amatrice in August this year killed about 300 people each.

But they both measured only 6.2 and were deeper than Sunday's earthquake.

Italy's most violent earthquakes since 1900 </s> A 4.7-magnitude aftershock has hit the Italian town of Amatrice as rescuers and emergency teams continue their search of three flattened hilltop towns and Italy declares a state of emergency in the region.

With the provisional death toll from Wednesday’s 6.2-magnitude quake standing at 267, including several foreigners, the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, authorised a preliminary €50m (£43m) in emergency funding for the stricken zone.

The powerful aftershock, the latest of more than 500 since the initial quake, hit the area shortly after dawn on Friday, sending up plumes of thick grey dust, shaking buildings that were still standing and fuelling fears of fresh collapses which could hamper the rescue operation.

In a first raft of emergency relief measures, Renzi cancelled residents’ taxes in and around the hardest-hit towns of Amatrice, Accumoli, Arquata del Tronto and Pescara del Tronto, between 60 and 90 miles (95-145km) north-east of Rome.

Most of the confirmed deaths were in Amatrice, where 193 people had died, includingthree Britons: Marcos Burnett, 14, who was on holiday with his parents and sister, and 55-year-old Will Henniker-Gotley and his wife Maria, 51, from south London. Marco’s parents are being treated for minor injuries in hospital.

The UK foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, said on Thursday that extra staff had been sent to the region. Six Romanians, a Canadian, a Spaniard and a Salvadoran were also killed.

The 2,500-strong population of the medieval hilltop town, voted one of Italy’s most beautiful historic towns last year, was swollen with summer visitors, many from Rome, in anticipation of its popular annual food festival this weekend.

But while 215 people had been pulled alive from the rubble since Wednesday and more than 360 were being treated in hospital, questions were mounting as to why there had been so many deaths in an area known for decades to be the most seismically hazardous in Europe.

After a 2009 earthquake in nearby L’Aquila left 300 people dead, authorities released €1bn to upgrade buildings in the region, but takeup has been low. Despite eight devastating earthquakes in 40 years, experts estimate 70% of Italy’s buildings do not meet seismic standards.

“Here, in the middle of a seismic zone, nothing has ever been done,” Dario Nanni, of Italy’s architects’ council, told Agence France-Presse. “It does not cost that much more when renovating a building to make it comply with earthquake standards. But less than 20% of buildings do.”

The culture minister said 293 historical buildings had been damaged or destroyed by the quake and public prosecutors announced an investigation into whether anyone could be held responsible.

Meanwhile, Renzi announced plans to help the country prepare better and address poor building standards, saying Italy should “have a plan that is not just limited to the management of emergency situations”. 



But the prime minister said suggestions that the country could easily construct quake-proof buildings were “absurd”. It was difficult to imagine, he said after a cabinet meeting, that the level of destruction from Wednesday’s quake “could have been avoided simply by using different building technology. We’re talking about medieval-era towns.”

In Amatrice and the surrounding small towns and villages hopes of finding more survivors were fading; no one had been recovered alive since Wednesday night. The focus was now on helping the more than 1,200 people left homeless.

About 5,400 emergency workers, firefighters, soldiers and volunteers, helped by 50 sniffer dogs, continued to sift through piles of cement, rock and twisted metal, many pointing out that the last survivor from the L’Aquila quake was found 72 hours after it struck.

“We will work relentlessly until the last person is found, and make sure no one is trapped,” said one rescue team spokesman, Lorenzo Botti.

Some survivors, having slept in their cars or in tent cities set up outside the towns, were allowed to pick up essential items from their homes on Thursday accompanied by rescue workers.

“Last night we slept in the car. Tonight, I don’t know,” said Nello Caffini, carrying his sister-in-law’s belongings on his head through Pescara del Tronto, which was almost completely destroyed.

Italy’s older buildings are not obliged to conform to anti-seismic building codes, and experts estimate it could cost more than €90bn to reinforce all the country’s historic buildings. Targeted improvement work, though, could be effective.

Compounding the problem is the fact that many more modern buildings do not comply with regulations when they are built, and often prove deadlier than older constructions when an earthquake strikes.

News reports in Amatrice said investigators were looking in particular into the town’s Romolo Capranica school, which was restored in 2012 using funds provided after the L’Aquila quake. It all but collapsed on Wednesday, while the town’s 13th-century clock tower remained standing.

“We are able to prevent all these deaths,” Armando Zambrano, of the national council of engineers, told the Associated Press. “The problem is actually doing it. These tragedies keep happening because we don’t intervene. After each tragedy we say we will act but then the weeks go by and nothing happens.” </s> ROME (CNN) — At least one person has died and many others are feared dead after an avalanche buried a hotel in central Italy following a series of earthquakes.

At least 22 guests and several staff members were at the Hotel Rigopiano at the foot of the Gran Sasso mountain when it was hit by the avalanche on Wednesday, Antonio Crocetta, a rescue group leader in the area told Italian state media.

Two people have been rescued from the site, the head of Italy’s Civil Protection Department, Fabrizio Curcio, said in a media briefing. Weather conditions are making the rescue operation difficult, he said.

Rescue workers had not been able to reach the area until the early hours of Thursday as heavy snowfall hit central Italy for several days. The area is a popular ski destination, mostly with Italian tourists.

Central Italy was rocked by more than 10 tremors on Wednesday, four of them above a magnitude of 5, according to the US Geological Survey.

An initial 5.3-magnitude quake hit in the morning near the town of of Amatrice, a town devastated by powerful temblors last year, and the tremors continued for more than six hours, including one as strong as 5.7.

While the epicenter was 90 kilometers northeast of Rome, the quake was felt strongly in the capital, sending people running from buildings in a panic.

All the aftershocks have hit around Amatrice, in the mountainous regions of Marche, Lazio and Abruzzo.

Nearly 300 people died in central Italy in quakes around Amatrice in August, and the town center, once popular with tourists, was reduced to rubble. </s> At least 22 guests and several staff members were in the Hotel Rigopiano, at the foot of the Gran Sasso mountain, when it was hit by the avalanche on Wednesday, Antonio Crocetta, a rescue group leader in the area told Italian state media.

Two people have been rescued from the site, the head of Italy's Civil Protection Department, Fabrizio Curcio, said in a media briefing. Weather conditions are making the rescue operation difficult, he said.

Rescue workers had not been able to reach the area until the early hours of Thursday as heavy snowfall hit central Italy for several days. The area is a popular ski destination, mostly with Italian tourists.

Central Italy was rocked by more than 10 tremors on Wednesday, four of them above a magnitude of 5, according to the US Geological Survey.

An initial 5.3-magnitude quake hit in the morning near the town of of Amatrice, a town devastated by powerful quakes last year. The tremors continued for more than six hours, with one as strong as magnitude 5.7. While the epicenter was 90 kilometers northeast of Rome, the quake was felt in the capital, sending people running from buildings in a panic. All the aftershocks have hit around Amatrice, in the mountainous regions of Marche, Lazio and Abruzzo. Nearly 300 people died in central Italy in quakes around Amatrice in August , and the town center, once popular with tourists, was reduced to rubble. </s> The metro system and some schools in Italy’s capital, Rome, were being evacuated Wednesday following a series of powerful earthquakes that struck the heart of the country.

An initial 5.3-magnitude quake hit central Italy 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) west-northwest of Amatrice, a town devastated by powerful temblors last year, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported.

While the epicenter was 90 kilometers northeast of Rome, the quake was felt strongly in the capital, sending people running from buildings in a panic.

It struck at 10:25 am (4:25 am ET) at a shallow depth of 10 kilometers and has been followed by six aftershocks in the same area, including one as strong as 5.7, the USGS reported.

There are no immediate reports of casualties or damage but firefighters told CNN that heavy snow blocking roads has hampered their initial assessment.

Around 850 firefighters are engaged but there have been no requests for rescues so far, the Italian Fire Department said in a Twitter post.

Disaster authorities in Rome said they had been inundated with hundreds of calls from the city.

Officials have begun looking for cracks and damage to structures in the city, many of them ancient and vulnerable from previous tremors.

Nearly 300 people were killed in central Italy in an August quake and a series of aftershocks that reduced much of Amatrice’s center to rubble.

Another series of quakes hit the region in October, but the impact was small as most people had evacuated from the previous tremors. </s> Story highlights Nine aftershocks reported after initial quake

"Catastrophic weather" blocking roads to some affected areas

Rome (CNN) The metro system and some schools in Italy's capital, Rome, were evacuated Wednesday following a series of powerful earthquakes that struck the heart of the country.

An initial 5.3-magnitude quake hit central Italy this morning 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) west-northwest of Amatrice, a town devastated by powerful temblors last year, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported.

While the epicenter was 90 kilometers northeast of Rome, the quake was felt strongly in the capital, sending people running from buildings in a panic.

At least nine aftershocks have been reported since the initial quake, including one as strong as 5.7, and all at a shallow 10 kilometers deep or less, the USGS reported.

(18gen-12:00) #Terremoto, proseguono controlli, 850 #vigilidelfuoco impegnati nel cratere. No richieste soccorso per coinvolti da crolli pic.twitter.com/du9KxJlrME — Vigili del Fuoco (@emergenzavvf) January 18, 2017

There are no immediate reports of casualties or damage, but firefighters told CNN that heavy snow blocking roads to some affected areas has hampered their initial assessment.

Read More </s> A series of strong earthquakes have hit snowbound central Italy, a region devastated by deadly tremors last year, killing one man and forcing schools and rail links to close. Four quakes of magnitude 5.2 and higher struck near the hill town of Amatrice, some 100km northeast of Rome, in the space of four hours on Wednesday.

Start the conversation, or Read more at The Otago Daily Times. </s> ROME — A pair of “apocalyptic” aftershocks shook central Italy on Wednesday, crumbling buildings, knocking out power and sending panicked residents into the rain-drenched streets just two months after a powerful earthquake killed nearly 300 people.

Two people were injured in the epicenter of Visso, where the rubble of collapsed buildings tumbled into the streets. But the Civil Protection agency had no other immediate reports of injuries or deaths.

The first quake carried a magnitude of 5.4, but the second one was eight times stronger at 6.1, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

“It was an unheard-of violence. Many houses collapsed,” Ussita Mayor Marco Rinaldi told Sky TG24. “The facade of the church collapsed. By now I have felt many earthquakes. This is the strongest of my life. It was something terrible.”

Calling it “apocalyptic,” he said: “People are screaming on the street and now we are without lights.”

Old churches crumbled and other buildings were damaged, though many of them were in zones that were declared off-limits after the Aug. 24 quake that flattened parts of three towns. Schools were closed in several towns Thursday as a precaution.

“We’re without power, waiting for emergency crews,” said Mauro Falcucci, the mayor of Castelsantangelo sul Nera, near the epicenter. 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 in his community. He added that darkness and a downpour were impeding a full accounting.

Italy’s national vulcanology center said the first quake struck at 7:10 p.m. local time (1710 GMT) with an epicenter in the Macerata area, near Perugia in the quake-prone Apennine Mountain chain. The U.S. Geological Survey put the epicenter near Visso, 170 kilometers northeast of Rome, and said it had a depth of some 10 kilometers (six miles).

The second aftershock struck two hours later at 9:18 p.m. with a similar depth.

Experts say even relatively modest quakes that have shallow depths can cause significant damage because the seismic waves are closer to the surface. But seismologist Gianluca Valensise said a 10-kilometer depth is within the norm for an Apennine temblor.

The Aug. 24 quake destroyed the hilltop village of Amatrice and other nearby towns and had a depth of about 10 kilometers. Amatrice Mayor Sergio Pirozzi said residents felt Wednesday’s aftershocks but “We are thanking God that there are no dead and no injured.”

The original Aug. 24 6.2-magnitude quake was still 41 percent stronger than even the second aftershock.

Wednesday’s temblors were 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 were no immediate reports of damage there.

A section of a major state highway north of Rome, the Salaria, was closed near Arquata del Tronto as a precaution because of a quake-induced landslide, said a spokeswoman for the civil protection agency, Ornella De Luca.

The mayor of Arquata del Tronto, Aleandro Petrucci, said the aftershocks felt stronger than the August quake, which devastated parts of his town. But 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 230 kilometers (145 miles) southwest from the epicenter, centuries-old palazzi shook and officials at the Foreign Ministry evacuated the building.

The quakes were actually aftershocks of the magnitude 6.2 earthquake from two months ago. Because they were 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 U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Paul Earle.

“They have a lot of old buildings that weren’t constructed at a time with modern seismic codes,” he said.

Given the size, depth and location of the quakes, the USGS estimates that about 24 million people likely felt at least weak shaking.

This original quake was about 20 kilometers (12 miles) northwest of the original shock, which puts it on the northern edge of the aftershock sequence and two months is normal for aftershocks, Earle said.
A state of emergency is declared in Italy following several strong earthquakes.