A fireman looks at cracks in the road outside Norcia, central Italy after a 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck on October 30, 2016 (AFP).
NORCIA, Italy — Italy’s most powerful earthquake in 36 years struck the country’s mountainous center Sunday, panicking shell-shocked residents for the third time in two months and flattening a world famous 600-year-old basilica.
Remarkably, there were no reports of anyone dying as a result of the 6.6-magnitude quake, but more than 3,000 people were left temporarily homeless, the national civil protection agency said.
“We can confirm that we have no information on victims,” said agency head Fabrizio Curcio, adding that 20 people had been injured, relatively lightly.
However “many buildings are in a critical state in historic centers and there are problems with electricity and water supplies,” Curcio told reporters.
The quake struck at 7:40 a.m. near Norcia in the region of Umbria, unleashing a shock felt in the capital Rome and even in Venice, 300 kilometers away.
Norcia residents were barred from returning to their homes on safety grounds, and as night fell, hundreds were being transported by bus to nearby Lake Trasimeno, where temporary accommodation in hotels and gymnasiums had been arranged.