Central Italy earthquake: death toll rises to 120 – as it happened

Here’s what we know so far:

• At least 38 people have died and many more are missing after a 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit a string of hill towns and villages across central Italy. It struck at 3.36am when most people in the hardest-hit towns of Amatrice, Accumoli and Arquata del Tronto were asleep.
• The civil protection agency said 27 people had died between the towns of Accumoli and Amatrice, and a further 10 were killed in the nearby Arquata area. Thousands of people have been left homeless.
• A survivor in Amatrice said: “It was one of the most beautiful towns of Italy and now there’s nothing left. I don’t know what we’ll do.”
• Italy’s prime minister, Matteo Renzi, is to visit the worst-hit areas later on Wednesday. In a TV address he said the priority was to get survivors out of the rubble and promised that no area or family would be left behind.
• Pope Francis has thanked rescue workers and volunteers and invited everyone to join him in prayer for the victims. “I cannot fail to express my heartfelt sorrow and spiritual closeness to all those present in the zones afflicted,” he said.
• The mayor of Amatrice, Sergio Pirozzi, told local media that dozens of people had died. He said: “Half the village has disappeared. The aim now is to save as many lives as possible. There are voices under the rubble, we have to save the people there.”
• The US Geological Survey said it was the largest earthquake in Italy since April 2009 when a 6.3-magnitude earthquake hit L’Aquila, killing at least 295 people and injuring more than 1,000. It said the epicentre of the Wednesday earthquake was about two miles (4km) north-east of Norcia and 40km north of Amatrice.
• France, Germany and the EU have offered their assistance. The French president, François Hollande, said France would provide “all the help that might be necessary” after a “terrible tragedy”, while chancellor Angela Merkel expressed “the deep sympathy of the German people”.

Video footage from Pescara del Tronto, where at least 10 people were killed, shows that much of the hill town has been reduced to rubble.

Pope Francis turned his weekly general audience into a prayer service, according to Catholic publication Crux. The pope is reported to have said:

On hearing the news of the earthquake that has struck central Italy and which has devastated many areas and left many wounded, I cannot fail to express my heartfelt sorrow and spiritual closeness to all those present in the zones afflicted.

He offered his condolences to all who have lost loved ones and expressed his spiritual closeness to those who are “anxious and afraid”. He added:

I want to assure all the people of Accumoli, Amatrice, the diocese of Rieti, Ascoli Piceno and all the people of Lazio, Umbria and Le Marche of the prayers and close solidarity of the entire church.

Matteo Renzi’s office has tweeted this video of the prime minister’s statement.

Our graphics team have created slideover images to show before and after photographs from the towns worst hit.

Jon Henley, our European affairs correspondent, summarises the latest developments in this story:

At least 38 people have died and many more are missing after a powerful earthquake struck a string of towns and villages in a swath of mountainous central Italy, razing homes, buckling roads and burying residents under mounds of rubble.

The 6.2-magnitude quake struck at 3.36am when most people in the hardest-hit towns of Amatrice, Accumoli and Arquata del Tronto were asleep, and was felt as far away as Rome – more than 93 miles (150km) away – authorities and witnesses said.

Residents and emergency services struggled to free people from dozens of buildings that collapsed into piles of masonry in the communities closest to the epicentre of the quake, in a remote area straddling the regions of Umbria, Marche and Lazio.

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A Sky News translator quoted Renzi saying:

Pulling people out of the rubble is difficult, but you can see how good civil protection workers have been. The work is carrying on and our priority is to get people out of the rubble.

In the afternoon I will visit the area and I will be involved with meetings with the authorities concerned: the head of the department for civil protection, and the minister for infrastructures and a great number of others.

At moments of difficulty Italy knows how to cope. And when things don’t go well, the whole of Italy demonstrates its most beautiful aspects. From now on we will make sure that we won’t leave any families or communes on their own. And it will really work, because in the next few hours we can save human lives from the rubble and give hope to those territories that have been so badly affected.

Renzi said he would visit the areas worst hit later today.

Italy’s prime minister, Matteo Renzi, is giving a TV address. According to a BBC translator he said now is the time to cry but also to act. He said no area would be left behind in the rescue efforts.

The US Geological Survey gave coordinates for the epicentre of the quake as 42.822°N 13.126°E, which is about two miles (4km) north-east of Norcia and 40km north of Amatrice.

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