A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck central Italy early Wednesday, with reports of damaged buildings, buried residents and blackouts near the epicentre Rieti, and badly damaging the town of Amatrice. The quake struck just after 3:30 a.m. local time and was felt across a broad section of central Italy, including the capital Rome where people in homes in the historic centre felt a long swaying followed by aftershocks. The European Mediterranean Seismological Center put the magnitude at 6.1 and said the epicentre was northeast of Rome, near Rieti. In 2009, a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck in the same region and killed more than 300 people. The earlier earthquake struck L'Aquila in central Italy, about 90 kilometres south of the latest quake.

Source: CBC News August 24, 2016 03:06 UTC