12 dead in Italy as second quake hits

A strong earthquake rocked northeastern Italy on Tuesday, killing at least 12 people, just days after another quake in the same region wrought death and destruction. The Emilia Romagna region confirmed a dozen people had perished as another tremor of above 5.3 magnitude hit the area at a depth of just one kilometre, sparking widespread panic among residents fearful for their lives. The local Gazzetta di Modena newspaper said 13 people had been killed. “I have to leave the building, we’re being hit by a long, powerful tremor. I have to get out,” a civil protection agency spokesman in Mantua told AFP. Authorities said the region was struck between 1056 GMT and 1101 GMT by three tremors of between 5.1 and over 5.3 magnitude, following a 5.8 magnitude quake just after 0700 GMT when people were heading into work. “Everything’s collapsed, it’s chaos, buildings across the town are down,” a fireman in the tiny town of Cavezzo told Corriere della Sera newspaper. The first quake struck about 60 kilometres (40 miles) east of Parma, according to the Geographical Institute of Modena, and sent panicked residents rushing into the streets in quake-struck cities including Pisa and Venice. Tuesday’s quakes followed a 6.0 magnitude quake in the industrial northeast on May 20 which killed six people and left thousands in makeshift tent dwellings, with many homes and historic buildings reduced to rubble. “Everything was shaking, we ran out into the streets. The roads are now blocked by people trying to flee the centre in case there’s an aftershock,” Corriere della Sera reporter Elvira Serra said from the small town of Cento.