A second earthquake has rocked central Italy today just hours after a fatal quake and tremors had unsettled the region.
The latest activity was recorded at 6.1 (lowered from 6.4) was 3.2 kilometers (2 miles) north of Visso and 58 km (36 miles) from Perugia, the USGS reported.
Earlier, a magnitude-5.5 quake struck the same region. The epicenter was about 9 kilometers away, south-southwest of Visso. The first quake hit at 7 p.m. (1 p.m. ET) between Perugia and Macerata, according to ANSA.
1000 deaths are expected as rescue efforts are being put into place for those injured by the quake.
Over 700.000 people are reported to of felt shaking from the earthquake.
Marco Rinaldi, the mayor of Ussita, minutes from the epicentre, described the tremors as “apocalyptic” and “unheard-of violence”.
He said “many houses collapsed” and that people were screaming on the street as the town was left without power.
“The facade of the church collapsed. By now I have felt many earthquakes. This is the strongest of my life. It was something terrible,”