Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Bonnie Malkin and Josh Halliday

Norcia earthquake: 6.6 magnitude shock felt in Rome - as it happened

Nuns flee collapsing buildings following earthquake in Italy

We are wrapping up our live coverage of the Italy earthquake. Dozens of historic buildings have been destroyed or seriously damaged by the 6.6 magnitude quake, with around a dozen people reported to be injured. There are currently no reports of deaths following the shock on Sunday morning.

The epicentre of the quake was about 40 miles (68km) south-west of Perugia and close to the town of Norcia, which was already reeling from a series of large quakes. Many of the town’s residents had been evacuated after quakes on Wednesday, meaning they avoided the worst of the damage on Sunday.

For the latest developments, click here for our full story.

Updated

More footage from Italian television of a collapsed building in the Marche town of Visso:

Updated

Some images from the destruction in Italy:

A collapsed building in L’Aquila after the strong earthquake in central Italy today.
A collapsed building in L’Aquila after the strong earthquake in central Italy today. Photograph: Claudio Lattanzio/EPA
Debris in Norcia after a wall collapsed following the strong earthquake that hit central Italy on Sunday.
Debris in Norcia after a wall collapsed following the strong earthquake that hit central Italy on Sunday. Photograph: EPA
Another scene in Norcia. The quake was centred 6km north of the central Italian town.
Another scene in Norcia. The quake was centred 6km north of the central Italian town. Photograph: EPA

Updated

Stephanie Kirchgaessner sends this update from Rome:

Emergency responders - 112 in Italy - are urging people to use SMS messages and WhatsApp to check on their loved ones to avoid blocking emergency calls on telephone lines.

In Rome, where the shock of the earthquake was felt, it still feels “a bit jittery,” she says.

The independent scientific organisation EMSC has tweeted this map of where the quake struck in Italy earlier today.

Around 10 injured but no reports of deaths

The head of civil protection, Fabrizio Curcio, has said at a press conference in the town of Rieti that “a dozen” people are reported injured, according to the Italian newspaper La Stampa. All the injuries are reported to be minor except for one who is said to be more seriously hurt.

My colleague in Rome, Stephanie Kirchgaessner, has tweeted:

Meanwhile, La Stampa reports that six injured people have been recovered from the rubble in Norcia.

Updated

Here is footage from Italian television of firefighters rescuing nuns in the badly-hit town of Norcia:

The monks of the devastated St Benedictine church, in Norcia, have said people remain trapped in the town’s square:

In an update on their website, the monks posted:

Dear friends,

Around 7:40 AM, a powerful earthquake struck close to Norcia. The monks are all safe, but our hearts go immediately to those affected, and the priests of the monastery are searching for any who may need the Last Rites.

The Basilica of St. Benedict, the historic church built atop the birthplace of St. Benedict, was flattened by this most recent quake. May this image serve to illustrate the power of this earthquake, and the urgency we monks feel to seek out those who need the Sacraments on this difficult day for Italy.

Relying, as ever, on your prayers and support,

Fr. Benedict

Subprior

Three people have been pulled alive from rubble in the Marche town of Tolentino, the Italian newspaper La Stampa reports. There are reports that several buildings have collapsed in the town of about 20,000 people.

'I saw hell'

The mayors of the quake-hit towns, Ussita and Arquata del Tronto, have described the devastating effect of this morning’s earthquake.

“It’s a disaster, a disaster!” mayor Marco Rinaldi told the ANSA news agency. “I was sleeping in the car and I saw hell.”

Like Rinaldi, many people were sleeping in cars or had been evacuated to shelters or hotels in other areas following aftershocks on Wednesday from the earthquake in August.

In Arquata del Tronto, which had been devastated by the earlier earthquake on 24 August that killed nearly 300 people, mayor Aleandro Petrucci said: “There are no towns left ... Everything came down.”

Updated

Emergency workers are racing to determine if any people have been killed or injured in the 6.6 magnitude earthquake, the Associated Press reports.

The quake was centered in a mountainous area straddling the central Italy regions of Umbria and Marche.

The head of the civil protection authority in the Marche region, Cesare Spuri, says there have been reports of buildings collapsing in many cities.

What we know so far

  • An 6.6 magnitude earthquake has struck central Italy.
  • The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre put the epicentre 132 kilometres northeast of Rome and 67 kilometres east of Perugia, near the epicentre of quakes that hit the region last week.
  • There are no immediate reports of casualties, and the quake hit some areas already evacuated following earlier tremors, but the damage to buildings is believed to be extensive.
  • The earthquake toppled Norcia’s Basilica of St Benedict and is believed to have flattened large parts of Arquata del Tronto and Ussita.
  • The quake was felt strongly in Rome, where authorities suspended the Metro, and also over the border in Croatia and Slovenia.

Updated

Stephanie Kirchgaessner has filed this update from Rome:

I was woken up by the earthquake,” Gianpaolo Giovannelli, who lives in the Flamimio area of Rome, told The Guardian. “The apartment started to shake. We feel them here in Rome, but we never get used to them, so each time we feel fear.”

Assia Staffoli, a mother of two from Rome, said her husband put their six year old daughter under the table when they felt the earthquake, which caused their bedrooms, on a mezzanine level, to shake badly.

“That’s what you’re told to do when there’s an earthquake, go under the table,” Staffoli said.

“I was feeding my son (aged 7 months), when it happened. We then quickly left the apartment.”

Guardian reporters Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Angela Giuffrida have filed a wrap of events so far in Italy this morning:

Italy was rocked by a magnitude 6.6 earthquake on Sunday morning, hitting the central Italian region already reeling from a series of large quakes.

The epicentre of the quake, according to initial reports, was about 68km south-west of Perugia and close to the town of Norcia, which had been hit by two successive quakes on Wednesday night that caused extensive damage.

On Sunday morning live television images showed firefighters in Norcia’s main square helping people – including many monks and nuns in their habits from a nearby monastery – running down small alleyways seeking safety.

Read the full story here:

No immediate reports of casualties

Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Angela Giuffrida report that while it is clear that structures sustained major damage, it is too early to tell whether the latest disaster caused major injuries or fatalities:

“It all came down, now there is no more town,” said the mayor of Arquata del Tronto, Aleandro Petrucci. But, he added, there were already “red zones” in place that had been abandoned after the previous quakes.

“The few people who remained have gone out to the streets, and are embracing. Now we’re going around to see what happened,” he said.

Cesare Spuri, the head of Civil Protection in Marche, said: “There are collapses everywhere. We report collapses in Muccia, Tolentino and in the areas surrounding Macerata, we’re trying to establish if people are underneath the rubble. There was also a strong shock in Ancona.”

In Rome, the quake caused far more concern than Wednesday’s earthquakes as they were felt much more strongly and for a longer period. The metro in the city has been closed while safety checks are conducted.

Agence France-Presse reports that the quake hit towns that were mostly empty following earthquakes in previous days:

The quake set dogs barking in the largely-abandoned towns of Norcia, Castelsantagelo, Preci and Visso, where residents had left their homes to sleep in cars or moved to the coast following this week’s quakes.

“Everything collapsed. I can see columns of smoke, it’s a disaster, a disaster,” Marco Rinaldi, the mayor of Ussita, one of the pretty mountain villages hit hardest by the last quake, told journalists.

“I was sleeping in my car, I saw hell break out,” he was quoted as saying.

Italy’s civil protection department said there were “checks underway in all the towns affected by this morning’s quake to determine whether there has been any damage to people or buildings.”

Video from Sky News posted on Twitter shows firemen assisting nuns in the aftermath of the quake in Norica.

'It's a disaster!'

Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Angela Giuffrida report from Rome that the quake was also felt in Veneto, Puglia and Naples, according to La Stampa.

Mauro Falcucci, mayor of Castelsantangelo, a town in the Lazio Rieti province, told La Repubblica: “I’m in Fano, where I live, but they’re saying that buildings have collapsed, that it’s a disaster! The ground is open, there’s smoke, a disaster.”

It seems that the Basilica of of St. Benedict in Norica has been destroyed.

Some images of the damage from the quake are starting to come through on Twitter.

Updated

Map of the epicentre

Map of the epicentre

The Guardian’s Rome correspondent Stephanie Kirchgaessner felt the earthquake and has sent in this report:

Live television images showed firefighters in Norcia’s main square, in some cases helping people - including many monks and nuns in their habits from a nearby monastery - running down small alleyway seeking safety.

The tremors could strongly be felt in Rome and Naples, with people sending messages on social media about seeing the walls shaking.

Television crews in Norcia showed rubble on the ground and damage to ancient structures, but it was unclear whether the damage was related to the most recent quake.

The quake comes days after central Italy was hit by two earthquakes that brought back memories of the disaster that hit the region in August.

Read the full story here:

6.6 magnitude earthquake hits Italy

Hello, we are starting our live coverage of the earthquake that has struck in central Italy.

Details are still emerging and we know that the quake measured at least 6.6 magnitude on the Richter scale and was felt in Rome.

The USGS said the quake was centred 68km (42 miles) east-southeast of Perugia. It was 108km (67 miles) deep.

It comes after months of seismic activity in Italy, including the Amatrice earthquake in August, which left more than 250 people dead.

Updated

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Kurt Russell's Strong Take On Tombstone Legacy Makes Me Wonder Why No One Made The Original Version Yet
What could have been.
Cinemablend
Cinemablend
‘Sober curious’ Gen Z adults drinking more than millennials were at same age, study finds
More than two-thirds of Gen Z adults reported binge drinking in the last year
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Binge drinking rises sharply among gen Z in their early 20s
Research challenges idea of ‘generation sensible’ as alcohol and drug use increase after teenage years
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
NBD, Just 50 Cent Making It Rain Money On A Fan For Dissing Diddy
I didn't have this on my 2026 bingo card.
Cinemablend
Cinemablend
‘The looks I’d get with my order’: Woman goes to Taco Bell, orders two Cheesy Fiesta Potatoes, and then gets body shamed by an old lady
One of the few places you would hope you would not be discriminated against based on your weight is an eatery; however, for TikTok user @juliasaysstuff, that wasn’t the case. On 14 February 2024, Jules uploaded a video to her account recounting her experience of being body shamed at a…
The Mary Sue
The Mary Sue
20 Celebrities Who Are The Same Age But Look Like They’re From Different Generations
They were born in the same year, yet these famous faces could easily pass for belonging to different generations.
Bored Panda
Bored Panda
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.
Download on the AppStore Get it on Google Play