Rescue teams in central Italy are searching for survivors of an earthquake that has devastated several towns and villages in a mountainous region
More than seventy people have been killed in the provinces of Umbria, Lazio and Marche
Quake hits at 03:36 (01:36 GMT), 76km (47 miles) south-east of the city of Perugia, at a shallow depth of 10km (six miles)
Quake epicentre is Norcia, near Perugia in mountainous central Italy but tremors felt in Rome
One hundred and fifty people are missing in the village of Accumoli alone
The Associated Press has been to Illica, a few kilometers north of Amatrice, finding residents waiting for help to try to rescue loved ones from the rubble.
"We came out to the piazza, and it looked like Dante's Inferno," said Agostino Severo, a Rome resident visiting Illica. "People crying help, help. Rescue workers arrived after one hour, one-and-a-half hours."
Image source, BBC/Italian firebrigadeThis aerial image of Amatrice shows severe damage to the medieval church of Sant’Agostino in Amatrice (inset and circled)
Victoria Rutter, a British woman on holiday in Italy, was staying at a campsite close to the epicentre of the quake in a static caravan perched on the edge of a hill:
Quote Message"We woke up in darkness with the whole thing shaking, things falling off the shelves and obviously it was very dark and it was very disorientating, we felt like the whole caravan was sliding down the edge of the hill, everyone was screaming, we could hear people around us screaming and trying to work out what was happening. And eventually we got out of bed and managed to come to enough 'cos we were asleep and we managed to work out it was an earthquake because I don't necessarily expect to have an earthquake on holiday in Italy, so I think it took us a while to work that out.
Victoria Rutter, Holidaymaker
Image source, APAn aerial photo of the damage in Amatrice
Image source, AFPA sign showing the name of a square under rubble in the central village of Accumoli
Image source, EPAFirefighters searching for quake victims amid the rubble of collapsed buildings in Amatrice
Image source, EPASearch and rescue teams search for missing people amid the rubble of collapsed buildings in Amatrice
Image source, EPASniffer dogs are used to trace signs of life under the rubble in Amatrice
"We need chainsaws, shears to cut iron bars, and jacks to remove beams: everything, we need everything,'' civil protection worker Andrea Gentili told the Associated Press at the epicentre of the quake.
Amatrice parish priest Savino D'Amelio meanwhile tells AP that the quake is an "immense tragedy" and that all people who live there can do is hope there are as few victims as possible "and that we all have the courage to move on".
The mayor of quake-hit Amatrice tells the AP news agency that rescue teams are trying to reach about 70 hamlets around his central Italian city and that so far 17 deaths have been confirmed in Amatrice alone.
But Sergio Pirozzi predicts that number will rise.
Mr Pirozzi says that he has provided rescue teams with information as to where people may still be trapped under debris.
International disaster relief agency ShelterBox,, external based in the UK but with an affiliate in Milan, is sending a team to the disaster area within 24 hours, the charity says in a statement:
"If emergency or temporary shelter is needed for families and individuals made homeless in the disaster, ShelterBox has adequate supplies of tents and other equipment standing by in the UK and at other sites across Europe."
Image source, AP/GoogleThe earthquake badly damaged the centre of Amatrice
Image source, Reuters/GoogleA house in Amatrice before and after the earthquake
Image source, EPA/GoogleThe tremors levelled much of Pescara del Tronto
At least 38 people have been killed in the quake and that number is likely to rise, Italy's civil protection unit has said in its first official body count.
More powerful images are coming in as the extent of the damage in the earthquake becomes clearer.
Image source, EPASadness and despair in Pescara del Tronto
Image source, APA man cries as volunteers search for more survivors in the rubble in Amatrice
Image source, EPAA policewoman holding a baby in Pescara del Tronto
The US Geological Survey, external has provided co-ordinates for the epicentre of the quake as 42.822°N 13.126°E - about 4km north east of Norcia and 40km north of Amatrice.
Image source, USGS
Image source, AFPFrench President Francois Hollande has offered Italy "all the help that might be necessary" after the earthquake. He described it as a "terrible tragedy" in a statement after a special security meeting on Wednesday. Mr Hollande offered the support of "all the French people". But he did not elaborate on what help France is offering.