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100, 000 people are now homeless after being made to leave their homes for fear of after-shock. The City is devastated and many houses and ancient buildings are in a very precarious condition.

There is major structural damage to many of the buildings in L’Aquila which has a population of 70, 000 and nearby towns have been severely affected by the quake also.

The earthquake struck in the middle of the night and 15, 000 people are now without electricity. Roads have been closed in the immediate area and the 2 main motorways to L’Aquila have been closed.

The people have been told to keep these clear allowing emergency vehicles free access to the injured and people in need of rescue.

The quake struck at 3:32 a.m. (9:32 p.m. ET Sunday) about 95 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Rome and about 3 miles below the surface.

The city also experienced after-shocks and in the area at the epicentre of the quake many buildings have been drastically damaged with people feared trapped inside.

In the medieval town of L’Aquila, 1,000 year old, ancient buildings, a church and parts of a University building and their halls of residence have been badly damaged, bringing heavy marble toppling to the ground.

There are huge crevices in the ground which have swallowed up cars and anything else in their way. The streets are covered with large slabs of stone which have fallen from the shattered houses.

People are digging at the rubble with their bare hands trying to search for the trapped. There are huge cracks in buildings making it unsafe for people to stay, while people who are trapped on the upper floors wait to be rescued.

People are being pulled out from beneath the rubble, with many who are trapped, crying out for help. The death toll is expected to rise and it is a race against time as the rescuers frantically search for the survivors.

The City is a scene of devastation with debris strewn all around. Air space has been freed up so that helicopters can get through with help for the victims.

There are over 150 people reported dead at the last count and that includes 4 children, but that figure is rising as the true magnitude of the scene unfolds.

Since October there has been a lot of seismic activity in the area which has been closely monitored. The country is criss-crossed by two fault lines, leaving 20 million people at risk from earthquakes activity.

“At around 10:20 p.m. (4:20 p.m. ET) Sunday, a 4.6-magnitude earthquake hit northern Italy; about 55 km (35 miles) southeast of Bologna at a depth was 6.4 kilometers (4 miles).

The last earthquake in L’Aquila was over 300 years ago in 1703 and in 1908 a tsunami and a 7.2-magnitude quake struck in Messina, Italy, killing 72,000 people and destroying the city. In southern Italy a 6.5-magnitude earthquake claimed the lives of 3,000 people in 1980.

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‘L’Aquila is laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valley of the Aterno river and surrounded by the Apennine Mountains, with the Gran Sasso d’Italia to the north-east.

It sits upon hillside in the middle of a narrow valley, tall snow-capped mountains of the Gran Sasso massif flank the town. A maze of narrow streets lined with baroque or Renaissance buildings and churches, opening onto elegant piazzas, home to the University of L’Aquila.

L’Aquila is a lively college town and as such has many cultural institutions: a repertory theater, a symphony orchestra, a fine-arts academy, a state conservatory, and a film institute’. Wikepedia

The situation in L’Aquila has been described by the Mayor, as critical and the Abruzzo region has now been declared a state of emergency.