A magnitude 6.2 earthquake has struck central Italy, leaving at least 38 people dead and 150 missing, as rescuers search for survivors.
Many of the dead were close to the epicenter. The village of Pescara del Tronto was levelled to the ground and the number of dead was expected to rise.
The Prime Minister paid tribute to the volunteers and civil defence officials who had rushed to the scene in the middle of the night and used their bare hands to dig for survivors.
The quake struck at a shallow depth of 10km and its intensity was compared to that of the Aquila earthquake in April 2009 in which 309 people died.
Leave a Reply