6.3 earthquake hits central Italy

The earthquake struck at 3.32am this morning around 60 miles north east of Rome.  The medieval town of L’Aquila was badly hit with a university dormitory, churches and a bell tower are believed to be among the buildings that collapsed

Many villages in the surrounding area are still cut off by landslides, phone and power lines remain down, and some bridges and roads have been closed as a precaution.

The earthquake registered 6.3 according to the US Geological survey and the earthquake in Central Italy occurred as a result of normal faulting on a NW-SE oriented structure in the central Apennines, a mountain belt that runs from the Gulf of Taranto in the south to the southern edge of the Po basin in northern Italy.

The central Apennine region has experienced several significant earthquakes in recorded history. In 1997, a significant Mw 6.0 earthquake 85 km north-northwest of the April 6th 2009 event killed 11, injured over 100 and destroyed approximately 80,000 homes in the Marche and Umbria regions.

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