ROME – A strong earthquake brought down buildings in mountainous central Italy early on Wednesday, trapping residents and sending others fleeing into the streets. The death toll in the quake has reached more than 70, according to Italy’s civil protection department.
WATCH: Death toll rises to at least 159 people following earthquake in Italy. Tina Kraus has the latest.
READ MORE: At least 78 dead as strong earthquake hits central Italy, brings down buildings
“Three quarters of the town is not there anymore,” Amatrice mayor Sergio Pirozzi told state broadcaster RAI. “The aim now is to save as many lives as possible. There are voices under the rubble, we have to save the people there.”
The towns of Amitrice and Accumoli were the most-affected areas, with at least 35 people killed in Amitrice alone, according to spokeswoman Immacolata Postiglione.
Residents sifted through the rubble with their bare hands before emergency services arrived with earth-moving equipment and sniffer dogs.
The quake hit during the summer when the populations of the communities in the area, normally low during the rest of the year, are swelled by vacationers.
Here is a list of major earthquakes in Italy since the start of the 20th century:
Dec 28, 1908 – More than 82,000 people are killed in a 7.2 magnitude earthquake which reduces Sicily’s second largest city Messina to rubble and damages the city of Reggio Calabria across the straits on the mainland.
Jan 13, 1915 – Some 32,600 are killed when an earthquake measuring 7.0 strikes Avezzano in central Italy.
July 27, 1930 – A quake measuring 6.5 strikes the region of Irpinia in southern Italy, killing around 1,400 people.
May 6, 1976 – An earthquake measuring 6.5 rocks Friuli in Italy‘s northeastern corner, killing 976 people and leaving 70,000 others homeless.
Nov. 23, 1980 – Some 2,735 people are killed and more than 7,500 injured in an earthquake measuring 6.5. The epicenter was at Eboli but damage was reported over a huge area towards Naples.
WATCH: Dozens dead as strong earthquake rocks central Italy
Dec. 13, 1990 – Earthquake centred in the sea off Sicily kills 13 people and injures 200.
Sept. 26, 1997 – Two earthquakes measuring 6.4 kill 11 people and cause serious damage to the Basilica of St Francis in Assisi, damaging priceless Medieval frescoes.
July 17, 2001 – Earthquake measuring 5.2 shakes the northern Italian region of Alto Adige, killing one woman.
Oct. 31, 2002 – An earthquake measuring 5.9 hits Campobasso, south-central Italy, killing 30 people, most of them children, in San Giuliano di Puglia.
April 6, 2009 – A powerful earthquake strikes the Abruzzo area east of Rome. It kills more than 300 people and devastates the 13th century city of L’Aquila.
May 29, 2012 – More than 16 people are killed and 350 injured in the second big earthquake to hit the area around Modena in northern Italy. An earlier quake nine days earlier killed nearly 10 people.
*With files from Global News