Quake-hit Italy reeling again as Italy hit by quake triple-punch

Central Italy was left reeling again Wednesday as a new wave of earthquakes brought fresh terror to a snowbound mountainous area still recovering from deadly tremors last year. Four shocks measuring more than five magnitude struck in the space of four hours with the epicentres all close to the town of Amatrice, where nearly 300 people died in an earthquake in August.
There were no reports of casualties but there were fears for isolated residents of remote hamlets cut off by heavy snowfall. The first shock struck at 10:25 am (0925 GMT).
Monitors put its strength at between 5.1 and 5.3 magnitude. A second, 50 minutes later, was measured at 5.7 by the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) and 5.4 by Italy's INGV. Both monitors noted the third, minutes later, at 5.3, and one of more than 100 major aftershocks was measured at 5.1 at 2.30 pm.
The Italian Red Cross said dozens of people were trapped by the snow in their homes and that it had received reports of building collapses in hamlets near Amatrice.
"Happily there have been no victims," Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said at a press conference in Berlin. He said the army's presence in the affected area would be stepped up.
The tremors were felt powerfully across the Abruzzo, Lazio and Marche regions and clearly in Rome, over 100 kilometres (60 miles) away.
Train services on some mainlines and the Rome underground were briefly suspended but resumed after safety checks.
Some schools in Rome and all those open in the quake zones were evacuated.
Residents of the city of Aquila, where over 300 people died in a 2009 earthquake, rushed into the snow-covered streets in scenes of panic but the mayor said there had been no building collapses there.
In Amatrice, the belltower of the 15th Century Church of Sant'Agostino crumbled. It had been badly damaged by the first of the earthquakes which struck the mountainous centre of the country between August and October last year.
Most of those who died in that 6.0 magnitude were in Amatrice, a beauty spot which was packed with holiday makers at the height of the summer season.
Two further quakes rattled the region in October, with the most powerful measuring 6.5 magnitude. The latest quake came in the wake of 36 hours of continuous snowfall in Amatrice.