Aftershocks after 2 powerful quakes in central Italy

Editor’s Note:

No deaths were reported Thursday in a part of central Italy rocked hours earlier by two powerful quakes, but the destruction of historic buildings led people to count the damage in the loss of their precious cultural heritage.

As dawn broke in the area, about 50 miles north of where a deadly quake killed nearly 300 people in August, rescuers were fearful of mudslides and wary about the risk of bringing heavy equipment up narrow roads linking the towns, villages and hamlets in this hilly region of the country.

The two temblors were followed by small aftershocks and one larger aftershock, measuring magnitude 4.3, which struck at 8:21 a.m. (2:21 a.m. ET) Thursday. There were no immediate reports of further damage resulting from that aftershock.

The second of the two quakes Wednesday – with a magnitude 6.1 – was 3.2 kilometers (2 miles) north of Visso and 58 kilometers (36 miles) from Perugia, the US Geological Survey reported.

A few hours earlier, a magnitude 5.5 quake struck the same region. The epicenter was about 9 kilometers away, south-southwest of Visso. That quake hit at 7 p.m. (1 p.m. ET) between Perugia and Macerata, according to ANSA.

A woman walks among debris at the Church of St. Antony, dating from the 14th century, in the town of Visso on Thursday, October 27, after a pair of earthquakes rocked central Italy. A magnitude 5.5 quake struck Wednesday, October 26, followed hours later by a magnitude 6.1 temblor. No deaths were reported, but historic buildings were damaged in the region where a powerful quake killed nearly 300 people in August.

Visso was among the more heavily damaged towns, including this post office on October 27.

Visso residents carry some of their belongings in the aftermath on October 27.

A house lies in ruins in Visso on October 27.

Firefighters inspect damage in Visso on October 27.

People wander around Visso on October 27 after the quake destroyed part of their neighborhood.

A child sleeps in a secured area after earthquakes rocked Visso on October 26.

The Church of San Sebastiano stands amid damaged houses in Castelsantangelo sul Nera on October 26.

Rescuers and residents inspect earthquake damage in Visso.

The epicenter of the first earthquake was about nine kilometers (five miles) south-southwest of Visso.

A Halloween dummy rests on a wall in front of earthquake damage in Visso.

Residents prepare to spend the night in makeshift shelters in Visso.

Central Italy shaken by 2 earthquakes

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Italy’s Civil Protection Agency said one person injured in Visso was taken to a hospital in Camerino, nearly 20 miles away, while dozens of others required medical attention in health facilities in the area.

The agency said a fire department helicopter would take off as soon as weather conditions allowed to rescue five people stranded overnight because of a landslide in Acquasanta.

There was significant damage to some buildings in Visso and another town, Campi, where the tremors destroyed the historic church, San Salvatore – the first severely damaged the 15th-century structure, and the second finished it off.

There were constant, small aftershocks throughout Thursday morning in Campi.

Residents, some with tears in their eyes, came to see what remained of San Salvatore, not only a part of the area’s cultural heritage but also of significance as the scene of baptisms, weddings and funerals.

One of the quakes leaves a house destroyed Thursday in the central Italian town of Visso.

Civil Protection Agency officials assisted one elderly man carrying a basket of flowers he wanted to leave at the cemetery.

Earlier, streetlights, likely powered by generators, remained on in Campi, but houses were dark. In many small towns, in the pre-dawn hours, there was little light, further hampering rescue efforts.

A post office is damaged in Visso following the quakes.

Hundreds of people slept in their cars in Campi, with blankets covering the windows. Cars were parked everywhere – streets, gas stations, parking lots. Some residents had their dogs with them.

Local media said one man had suffered a heart attack.

Residents expressed worry that another, bigger tremor might cause even more damage.

The US Geological Survey said both of Wednesday’s earthquakes were shallow.

The main square and church in nearby Norcia, a couple of miles to the south, were badly damaged, but the church was still standing.

Residents carry some of their belongings after part of Visso was destroyed.

Reminders of August quake

Tommaso Della Longa, a spokesman for the Italian branch of the Red Cross, told CNN that many people left their homes after the first shock and went outside when the second earthquake hit about two hours later.

A child sleeps Wednesday in a secured area of Visso after the earthquakes.

Visso is about 110 miles northeast of Rome and 50 miles north of Amatrice, the small town that lost about 270 residents when a magnitude 6.2 quake hit on August 24. Another 20 people were killed in nearby towns.

The impact from Wednesday’s quakes was even felt in Rome.

Video recorded by CNN affiliate Rai television showed a road to Visso that was largely blocked by a massive boulder. Cars were having to drive carefully around it.

Stone buildings in the town also were heavily damaged.

An emergency responder passes by the rubble of the building in Amatrice where Roberto Partenza and his family lived before the earthquake struck in the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday, August 24.

Emergency crews huddle near the iconic Amatrice clock tower still standing amid the rubble. The frozen hands of the clock rest at the time of the earthquake: 3:36 a.m. local time.

The destroyed interior of a home is seen in Amatrice.

The destroyed convent of Amatrice is visible from the Italian Red Cross field headquarters in Amatrice.

A K-9 rescue crew regroups outside of the red zone in Amatrice.

Three days on, various emergency response groups congregate in an open area in Amatrice. Rescuers were initially hindered by the lack of access to the mountain town.

An camp for emergency volunteers is erected in a park in Amatrice.

Rescuers congregate in the shade near a temporary camp under construction for residents displaced by the earthquake in Amatrice.

A view of the tent camp set up by the Civil Protection Agency in the Abruzzo region as temporary housing for displaced residents from the mountain commune of Accumoli.

AnnaMaria Volpetti, 52, stands at the entrance of the tent where she and her family have sought refuge after their ancestral holiday home was ruined in Accumoli.

The gated doorframe of a home is the only part of it that remains standing.

Emergency personnel survey a cordoned-off area in the center of Amatrice. Much of the town is now inaccessible to everyone but authorities.

Cars caked in a layer of thick debris dust are parked in central Amatrice.

A poster for the 50th anniversary of Amatrice's famous pasta festival, set to take place the weekend following the earthquake, remains on the perimeter of a park now occupied by emergency response volunteers.

A neat fracture line in the pavement is a telling sign of the earth's violent movement below the streets of Amatrice.

Shattered vistas from Italy's August earthquake

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Della Longa said buildings that fell in the Amatrice area have been unoccupied since the August quake. The area remains off-limits. People displaced by that quake have been forced to move once again.

CNN’s Barbie Nadeau reported from Campi, and James Masters reported and wrote in London.