A powerful earthquake has struck central Italy yet again, just four days after two back-to-back quakes hit the area and only months after a similar event in August killed over 300 people. The quake, which centred on Norcia, is believed to be the strongest to hit Italy since 1980.
As much of the towns towards the epicentre of the quake had already been evacuated thanks to the seismic activity over the previous few days, no one has been reported dead, and only 20 have been reported injured. However, the event did serious damage to a number of historic buildings, with some residents describing it like a bomb had gone off.
“We can’t assist people while they are still in the earthquake zone,” said Fabrizio Curcio, the head of Italy’s civil protection department. “This was a 6.5, we haven’t had an earthquake of this magnitude since 1980, so there are a series of controls we have to carry out.”
A medieval basilica and a number of local churches were among the buildings destroyed in the region.
Some of the visual – courtesy of Sky News – is pretty intense:
We’ll keep you posted as this one develops.
Source: New York Times.
Photo: Facebook / Reuters.
