At Least 247 Dead as Quake Rocks Central Italy

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Devastating earthquake hits central Italy

Residents stand amid the rubble.

Rescuers search for victims among the rubble of a house in Amatrice. 

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Policemen walk past damaged buildings in Amatrice.

Residents stand among damaged buildings. 

Rescuers, with the help of a dog, search for victims.

Rescuers search for victims in damaged buildings

A firefighter gestures next to damaged buildings.

Rescuers help a victim in a damaged building after a strong quake hit Amatrice.

Damaged buildings are seen after a strong earthquake hit Amatrice, Italy.

First aid is provided to people who were injured in an earthquake that rattled a hospital in Amatrice, Italy.

Rescuers clear debris while searching for victims.

A man is carried among damaged homes.

Rescuers and residents clear debris in a search for victims in damaged homes after a strong quake hit Amatrice.

A man reacts after a strong earthquake hit Amatrice.

Residents carry an injured victim from a damaged building after a strong quake hit Amatrice.

Residents stand next to damaged buildings. 

A car lies under a damaged wall after a strong quake hit Amatrice on Aug. 24, 2016.

People look for survivors in a collapsed house in Fonte del Campo near Accumoli, Italy. 

Rescuers look for missing people amid the rubble of collapsed buildings in Amatrice, Italy.

An injured man awaits treatment in Amatrice, Italy, on Aug. 24,2016.

Rescuers search for survivors under the rubble in the town of Amatrice, central Italy, on Aug. 24, 2016.

Residents and rescuers walk among the damaged buildings in the town of Amatrice, central Italy, after an earthquake Aug. 24, 2016.

Police officers search amid the rubble following an earthquake in Amatrice, central Italy, on Aug. 24, 2016.

Rescuers stand by a collapsed house following an earthquake in Amatrice, central Italy, on Aug. 24, 2016.

Rescuers search amid the rubble.

An injured woman is carried by rescuers in Amatrice, central Italy.

Buildings collapsed following an earthquake in Amatrice, central Italy, on Aug. 24, 2016. 

Residents and rescuers look through damaged buildings in the town of Amatrice, central Italy, after an earthquake on Aug. 24, 2016.

Firefighters and rescuers search a destroyed house in Accumoli, on Aug. 24, 2016, after a strong earthquake hit central Italy.

A sign bearing the name of a square under rubble in the Italian village of Accumoli after a powerful earthquake rocked central Italy.

Rescuers and firefighters inspect the rubble of buildings in Amatrice on Aug. 24, 2016 after a powerful earthquake rocked central Italy.

Homes in Pescara del Tronto are damaged and destroyed by an earthquake.

Two residents hug each other next to collapsed and damaged houses in Pescara del Tronto, Italy.

An injured woman is carried by rescuers amid the rubble of collapsed buildings in Amatrice, central Italy.

A man leans on a wall in the collapsed village of Pescara del Tronto, central Italy.


A woman holds a child as they stand in the street following an earthquake in Amatrice, Italy.


Rescuers are seen working in the rubble of collapsed and damaged houses in the village of Pescara del Tronto, Italy.


A woman is carried on a stretcher by rescuers in Amatrice, Italy.


A man is rescued from the rubble of a building after an earthquake in Accumoli, Italy.


A man is pulled out of the rubble following an earthquake in Amatrice, Italy.


The body of a victim is pulled out of the rubble following an earthquake in Amatrice.


Firefighters and rescuers inspect damaged buildings in Amatrice after a powerful earthquake rocked central Italy


A resident carries a pram among damaged buildings.


A resident is helped among damaged buildings after a strong earthquake hit Amatrice.


Residents search for victims in the rubble after a strong earthquake hit Amatrice.


A man stands on top of a damaged car in Amatrice after a powerful earthquake rocked central Italy.


A man stands among damaged buildings after a strong earthquake hit central Italy in Amatrice on Aug. 24, 2016.


A woman is comforted as she cries following an earthquake in Amatrice, central Italy.


Volunteers pause to rest during search-and-rescue operations in Amatrice. 


Rescuers search through debris the evening following an earthquake in Pescara Del Tronto, Italy.

People prepare to spend the night in a tent camp following an earthquake near Pescara Del Tronto, Italy. 

Amatrice is perhaps best known as the home of spaghetti all’amatriciana, a hearty dish of pasta made with bacon-like bits of cured pork jowl, pecorino cheese and tomato.The town was set to host its 50th spaghetti festival Saturday.

The first quake struck around 3:30 a.m., collapsing walls and ceilings of homes and trapping people as they slept. It was followed by at least 11 temblors in what the seismological center described as a “high aftershock rate.”

Pirozzi said the quake also knocked out power to the community, hampering communications with emergency responders. The remote town was virtually cut off after a bridge connecting it to the rest of the region was damaged.

The local hospital was also badly hit, forcing the wounded and stretcher-bearers to gather in front of the building. Ambulances then transferred patients to other towns.

In Accumoli, Mayor Stefano Petrucci said at least 2,500 people were displaced, including 2,000 summer season tourists. "We will try to assist them all, but you'd better leave the country," he told them, according to ANSA.

In Pescara and Arquata del Tronto, two tent cities were being erected to accommodate the displaced, ANSA reported. Civil defense teams were rounding up camp stoves and generators. Other homeless families were being sheltered in gyms and other public buildings.

Fatalities from Earthquakes in Italy | Graphiq

A geologist in Poland says that earthquake was caused by the slow but constant under-surface movement of the African Plate toward Europe. Jerzy Zaba of the Silesian University in Katowice, in southern Poland, said Wednesday that a wedge-shaped front of the African Plate is pressing into the Eurasian Plate in the Adriatic Sea region and pushes into the neighboring regions, like Italy’s Apennine Mountains.

The tension that accumulates leads to a sudden release in the form of under-surface rock movement that causes earth tremors.

Zaba told Polish PAP agency that the African Plate is moving northwards at the speed of up to 2 inches a year.

The most deadly Italian earthquake in the 20th century struck in 1908, when a quake followed by a tsunami killed about 80,000 people in Reggio Calabria and Sicily.

Stanglin reported from McLean, Va.; Contributing: Charles Ventura from Los Angeles, Steph Solis and Jessica Durando from McLean. 

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