Officials in Italy assess damage caused by strong earthquakes

Visso: Officials in central Italy began early on Thursday to assess the damage caused by a pair of strong earthquakes in the same region of central Italy hit by a deadly quake in August, as an appeal went out for temporary housing adequate for the cold mountain temperatures.

Thousands of people spent the night in their cars following the pair of quakes that struck late in the evening, sending residents into the streets in pouring rain, too late for authorities to come up with adequate shelter.

A series of small shocks overnight, including two registering magnitudes above 4 before dawn, further unsettled residents.

A series of small shocks overnight, including two registering magnitudes above 4 before dawn, further unsettled residents.

The morning after the quakes, there remained no reports of serious injuries or signs of people trapped in rubble.

The head of Italy's civil protection agency, Fabrizio Curcio, said it appeared that the situation "is not as catastrophic" as it could have been. A 73-year-old man died of a heart attack, possibly brought on by the quakes, local authorities told the ANSA news agency.

Mayors of towns scattered in the mountain region spanning the Umbria and Marche regions say many more homes were rendered uninhabitable, on top of those damaged in the August quake, while historic structures that survived previous quakes had succumbed this time.

Camerino Mayor Gianluca Pasqui said the town's historic bell tower had collapsed, but emphasised that reconstruction work after a 6.1 quake in 1997 appeared to have contributed to the absence of serious injury.

"I can say that the city didn't have victims. That means that even if there is a lot of damage probably the reconstruction in the historic center was done in a correct and adequate manner. Because otherwise, we would be speaking of something else," Pasqui told Sky TG24.

The president of Umbria region, Catiuscia Marini, told RAI state television that officials are scrambling to come up with temporary housing, mindful that with winter approaching and temperatures dropping, tents can't be deployed as they were after the August quake.

The concern for the predominantly elderly population of the remote mountain region was repeated by other officials.

Marini said that after the quakes many people will be fearful of staying even in hotels deemed safe, and that solutions like campers were being considered.

"We don't have injured, we have people who are very afraid, who have anxiety, especially the elderly," she said.

In Visso, Mayor Giuliano Passaglini said he was only able to provide shelter for a couple hundred residents overnight, and most people spent the night in their cars. About 800 people were without shelter in Visso.

Firefighters were helping residents to retrieve objects from their homes in the red zone. Most were intact, showing only cracks.

The first quake struck at 7:10 pm and carried a magnitude of 5.4.

But the second one a little more than two hours later was eight times stronger at 6.1, according to the US Geological Survey.

Officials said the fact that people had already left their homes when the second quake hit probably saved lives.