Terni: A powerful earthquake rocked central Italy in the wee hours of August 24 and killed at least 38 people.

Immacolata Postiglione, head of the unit’s emergency department, told media persons that many people are still under debris and “so many are missing.”

The European Mediterranean Seismological Center put the magnitude at 6.1 and said the epicenter was northeast of Rome, near Rieti. The U.S. Geological Survey put the magnitude at 6.2.

The quake struck at 3:36 am when people were fast asleep. “We got up and stood outside our building for some time,” says Fr Joseph Lukose, a priest from Kollam studying in Terni. He said he was awakened by his superior.

According to Fr Lukose, the quake damaged many buildings, including a church, in Terni, a town some 115 km from Rome. However, Terni’s Basilica of St. Valentine is safe, he told Matters India.

The quake’s epicenter was northwest of Accumoli, and at least 112 km northeast of Rome.” Other reports say that the quake struck just 10 km southeast of Norcia, where the now-famous Benedictine Monks of Norcia live.

Meanwhile, Italian news agency Ansa reported 11 people were killed in the mountainous area of northern Lazio, six in Amatrice and a further five in Accumoli.

A further ten are reported dead in Pescara del Tronto, in the Marche region. Countless others are still trapped beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings.

The quake struck the area between the regions of Lazio and Marche in central Italy.

The relief effort is underway but the death toll looks set to rise as emergency services are yet to reach some of the damaged areas.

The first earthquake struck at 3.36am in Norcia, a town south of Perugia, Umbria, at a very shallow 10 km depth, according to the USGC, and was followed by a 5.4 magnitude aftershock an hour later.

“Half the town is gone, people are under the rubble,” the mayor of Amatrice told RaiNews24. “Access roads are blocked.”

Two people are reported dead in Pescara del Tronto, in the Marche region, east of the epicenter. They are said to be an elderly couple whose home collapsed.

A statement from the government said that that Italy’s civil protection agency had called a special meeting to co-ordinate a response to the disaster. The Italian Prime Minister is following developments from Rome.

Strong tremors lasting about 20 seconds were also felt in Rome, and again about an hour later.

A group of panicked neighbors gathered on a street in the Flaminio area shortly after the second aftershock.

In 2009, a 6.3 magnitude quake in L’Aquila, Abruzzo and killed 308 people and left more than 1,500 injured.

Italy has two fault lines, making it one of the most tectonically active countries in Europe.