Strong earthquake hits northern Italy

Source: Agencies  |   2008-12-24  |     ONLINE EDITION

AN earthquake with a magnitude of 5.1 struck northern Italy yesterday near the city of Parma and was followed hours later by a smaller quake, but no one was injured, officials said.

Train services were briefly interrupted on some lines and there was minor damage to some buildings, including two churches.

Startled Italians jammed telephone lines after the initial quake at 4.25 pm (1525 GMT) that was unusually strong for northern Italy and was felt from the financial capital Milan to Florence to Trieste.

"There is some anguish, a lot of fear ... In the town hall itself there was a lot of panic," said Alberto Pazzoni, mayor of Traversetolo, a town just outside Parma and near the quake's epicentre.

"But the information we have got from the police and local health services is very comforting. There have been no calls to emergency services," he said.

A second, smaller quake struck at about 11 pm (2200 GMT) with a magnitude of 4.7, the Civil Protection Agency said. One press official described it as an aftershock.

Earthquakes can be particularly dangerous in parts of Italy where centuries-old buildings are left in disrepair. In 2002, a quake measuring 5.4 flattened a school in the southern Molise region, killing 27 children and a teacher.

Enzo Boschi, head of the National Institute of Geophysics, said Tuesday's main quake appeared to be "nothing catastrophic".

"The area (near the quake's epicentre) is well constructed, so there shouldn't be serious problems," Boschi told Sky Italia television.

The US Geological Survey gave higher estimates for the scale of the earthquakes, putting the magnitude of the first one at 5.3 and the second at 5.2.

It said the first earthquake struck at a depth of 28.9 km (18 miles), while the second was at a more shallow 17 km.