The quake was felt as far away as Rome, which is 150 kilometers away from the epicentre, as homes in the historic centre swayed about 3.30 a.m. local time.

The mayor of Accumoli, Stefano Petrucci, said “now that daylight has come” the disaster was worse than first realized.

“We see that the situation is even more dreadful than we feared with buildings collapsed, people trapped under the rubble and no sound of life,” Petrucci said.