The Mayor of Amatrice, Sergio Pirozzi stated that "The town isn't here anymore" in response to the extent of the damage across the town which as result of the earthquake is in rubble due to the collpase of several homes and buildings.
The death toll is expected to rise as many people are still feared trapped under the rubble of the buildings and homes that have collapsed as a consequence to this earthquake. At least 38 people are confirmed to be dead whilst 50 are feared to be. One witness stated that "It looked apocalyptic like Dante's Inferno".
Aftershocks are also feared to add to the damage of buildings on the verge of collapse or that have already collapsed. Hours after the earthquake Italy seen at least 39 aftershocks hit the area, the highest in magnitude being 5.1.
There is no doubt that this year earthquakes have up-ticked and increased worldwide with growing magnitudes. It was reported only a few hours ago of another earthquake in Burma, Myanmar which had a magnitude of 6.8, yet another powerful earthquake to strike across the world. 2016 has been a year where seismic activity has increased rapidly from February-March up until now and that up-tick is still ongoing with at least 100 earthquakes happening per day with magnitude ranges of 1.5-7M. USGS states that the average amount of earthquakes to happen each year is around 20,000. Looking at the averages so far this year, we are expected to see 36,000 earthquakes, 16,000 more than the average.
We will be reporting more on this story as it develops.
You can keep up to track with the latest earthquakes at this website: http://quakes.globalincidentmap.com/
Scenes from Amatrice and a USGS map showing the epicenter of the M6.2 Earthquake, Central Italy.
USGS map showing the epicenter of the M6.8 Earthquake in Burma, Myanmar.
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