Italy Quake: Search for Survivors in Emilia Romagna

The epicentre was near Modena, close to a similar quake nine days earlier

BBC

Rescuers in northern Italy are continuing to comb through the rubble for more survivors after a strong earthquake killed at least 16 people, reports the BBC.

About 350 people were injured after the magnitude 5.8 quake hit the Emilia Romagna region - the second deadly tremor in just over a week.

A woman was pulled out alive in the evening in Cavezzo, but officials say at least one more person is missing.

The quake on May 20 killed seven people and left thousands homeless.

The 6.0 magnitude tremor also caused significant damage to Emilia Romagna's cultural heritage, destroying churches and historic buildings.

The number of people made homeless has now gone up from 6,000 to 14,000 after the two quakes, the Italian government says.

The woman who was saved in Cavezzo reportedly spent 12 hours in the rubble in her kitchen. The 65-year-old managed to survive because a piece of furniture had toppled over, preventing her from being crushed by the wreckage.

She was taken to hospital.

Prime Minister Mario Monti said earlier his government would do everything possible to restore normal life to the area, which was "so special, so important, so productive for Italy".

Government troops are now deployed in the affected areas, and an emergency cabinet meeting will be held on Wednesday.

All through the day the search went on for a 65-year old woman, who lay buried in the rubble of her home.

Then nearly 12 hours after the quake struck, she was pulled out alive. Rescue workers helped by a sniffer dog had found her in her living room, trapped under the collapsed wreckage of the floor above.

With damaged apartment blocks and other structures in every other street, the authorities had cordoned off virtually the whole of the centre of the town and its residents had abandoned their homes.

Then late in the evening, a huge machine capable of tearing down entire buildings rumbled into the streets and went to work.

It began demolishing a four-storey office block that was too badly damaged to save. And it went on ripping and tearing at the masonry far into the night.

In the shock of the earthquake and in the operation to clear away the wreckage that it left behind, the shape of this small town is being changed forever.

Tuesday's quake struck 40km (25 miles) north of Bologna at a depth of 9.6km (six miles) at about 09:03 local time (07:03 GMT).

Thousands of residents ran out of buildings after the tremor, which was felt as far away as Venice and the Austrian border.

The towns of Mirandola, Medolla and Cavezzo were closest to the epicentre, but the northern cities of Milan and Bologna were shaken too.

Among the dead were four people in Mirandola, including two who were in a factory that collapsed. Three people also died in San Felice, and two in Cavezzo.

In Mirandola, the San Francesco church collapsed, leaving only its facade standing.

Three people were killed at a factory that had only been cleared for re-entry on Monday, following the earlier quake, the Corriere della Sera news website says.

A parish priest in the town of Rovereto di Novi is reported to have been killed by a falling beam when he went back into his church to save a Madonna statue.

"It's a disaster, I've never seen anything like it," Cavezzo Mayor Stefano Draghetti was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Christopher Gilbert, a Londoner living in Modena, told the BBC that he had felt "a rolling earthquake lasting around 15 seconds".

Chris Brewerton, living in Mantua, about 58km north of Modena, told the BBC: "The chair starts shaking and there's a feeling of waves below me.

"I rush out into the garden; the shutters and garage door are banging, the ground below me swaying."
Industry hit

There have been several aftershocks since, including a large one at about midday which sent people out into the streets in cities up to 100km away, the BBC's Mark Duff reports from northern Italy.

In Pisa, offices were evacuated as a precautionary measure while there were moments of panic in Venice, where a statue fell to the ground.

Pictures from the worst-affected areas show factories and office blocks reduced to rubble.

Calls to emergency services have overloaded the telephone network in some areas, causing a system blackout. Train services have been halted in some parts of northern Italy.