16 dead as quake rattles central Italy

At least 16 people have been killed after a strong earthquake rocked central Italy, collapsing homes on top of residents as they slept.

Wednesday's magnitude 6 quake struck at 1136 (AEST) and was felt across a broad swath of central Italy, including the capital Rome where residents felt a long swaying followed by aftershocks. The tremor was felt from the Lazio region into Umbria and Le Marche on the Adriatic coast.

The hardest-hit towns were Amatrice and Accumoli near Rieti, some 100km northeast of Rome, where the air was thick with dust and smelled strongly of gas. The centre of Amatrice was devastated, with entire palazzos razed. Rocks and metal tumbled onto the streets and dazed residents huddled in piazzas as some 39 aftershocks continued into the early morning hours, some as strong as 5.1.

"The whole ceiling fell but did not hit me,'' marvelled resident Maria Gianni. "I just managed to put a pillow on my head and I wasn't hit luckily, just slightly injured my leg."

Another woman, sitting in front of her destroyed home with a blanket over her shoulders, said she didn't know what had come of her loved ones.

"It was one of the most beautiful towns of Italy and now there's nothing left,'' she said, too distraught to give her name. "I don't know what we'll do.''

As daylight dawned, residents, civil protection workers and even priests began digging out with shovels, bulldozers and their bare hands, trying to reach survivors. There was relief as a woman was pulled out alive from one building, followed by a dog.

'We need chain saws, shears to cut iron bars, and jacks to remove beams: everything, we need everything,'' civil protection worker Andrea Gentili told The Associated Press. Italy's national blood drive association appealed for donations to Rieti's hospital.

The devastation harked back to the 2009 quake that killed more than 300 people in and around L'Aquila, which sent emergency teams on Wednesday to help with the rescue.

"I don't know what to say. We are living this immense tragedy,'' said the Rev. Savino D'Amelio, an Amatrice parish priest. "We are only hoping there will be the least number of victims possible and that we all have the courage to move on.''

The Italian geological service put the magnitude at 6.0 while the US Geological Survey reported 6.2 with the epicentre at Norcia, about 170km northeast of Rome, and with a relatively shallow depth of 10km.