Rome shaken as earthquakes hit central Italy

Three earthquakes have hit central Italy in short succession, with tremors felt in the capital, Rome, forcing an evacuation of the underground train system. The German Research Centre for Geosciences, which operates a regional quake monitoring system, said a quake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.5 hit the region north of Amatrice at about 09:25 […]

Three earthquakes have hit central Italy in short succession, with tremors felt in the capital, Rome, forcing an evacuation of the underground train system.
The German Research Centre for Geosciences, which operates a regional quake monitoring system, said a quake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.5 hit the region north of Amatrice at about 09:25 GMT on Wednesday.
A second quake with the same magnitude hit the same area about 50 minutes later.
A third quake was also reported shortly after, hitting 110km northeast of Rome with a depth of 40km, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre. There were no reports of casualties.
The Italian Red Cross said dozens of people were trapped by the snow in their homes and that it had received reports of building collapses in hamlets near Amatrice.
“Happily there have been no victims,” Paolo Gentiloni, Italy’s prime minister, said in Berlin.