Strong quake rattles Italy, at least 18 dead

TIL Desk/World/Amatrice-At least 18 people have so far been reported dead after numerous buildings collapsed due to 6.2-magnitue earthquake in central Italy early on Wednesday. An increase in death toll is highly likely as dozens of mountain villages have been devastated.

The hardest-hit towns were Amatrice and Accumoli near Rieti, some 100 kilometers northeast of Rome, though the quake was felt beyond the Lazio region into Umbria and Le Marche on the Adriatic coast. The epicentre of the quake was about 170 km northeast of Rome near the town of Norcia in the region of Umbria. The tremors were sufficiently strong to wake residents of central Rome.

Sergio Pirozzi, mayor of Amatrice, a mountain village close to the epicentre, said that the town ‘isn’t here anymore’ and many residents are buried under the debris. At least 10 people died in Pescara, a hamlet that is part of the bigger village of Arquata del Tronto. Six bodies were recovered at Amatrice, according to the president of the Lazio region, and two at Accumoli, according to the town’s mayor.