An earthquake tremor that shook central Italy at around 19:00 Wednesday measured upward of 5 degrees on the Richter scale and had its epicenter in the province of Macerata.
A 5.4 magnitude earthquake shook the Val Nerina valley between Perugia and Macerata, the National Institute of Geophysics (INGV) made known. The nearest community is the tiny village of Castelsantangelo sul Nera, whose mayor told reporters buildings have collapsed and the power is out.
"We don't have any reported victims but we're in the dark and under a downpour," Mayor Mauro Falcucci said. "We're waiting for the Civil Protection Department to bring us lighting towers".
The village in the Marche region lies about 90 km from of Ancona and about 50 km from Macerata, and was hard-hit by a devastating August 24 quake that claimed 298 lives.
In the town of Visso in Macerata province, people poured out onto the central square in panic and tears.
"The walls fell in on me," said a woman surveyor who fled from her office in central Visso. "All the objects and books fell off the shelves. I ran down the stairs and outside it was all dust. People were screaming".
Marche civil protection chief Cesare Spuri said authorities will shut down the Salaria road at the height of the village of Arquata del Tronto, which was devastated by the August 24 quake.
Today's tremor spanned the Lazio, Tuscany and Umbria regions as well as the central Marche region, and was felt in the cities of Ascoli, Ancona, Arezzo, Assisi, Fabriano, L'Aquila, Perugia, Pesaro, Pescara, Rieti, and Rome, where the Italian foreign ministry building was evacuated.
Rescue teams are on their way to isolated villages near the epicenter of the quake.
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