'Worse than war': Death toll from Italy earthquake nears 250

WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR:

• 247 people have been killed, dozens missing
• Witnesses have given details of the terrifying moment the quake hit
• The hardest-hit towns were Amatrice and Accumoli near Rieti, 100km northeast of Rome

The death toll from a powerful earthquake in central Italy has risen to 247 as rescuers continued a grim search for corpses as powerful aftershocks rocked the devastated area.

The bulk of the confirmed deaths were in the small town of Amatrice, where Rita Rosine, 63, wept as she mourned her 75-year-old sister, who was buried under the ruins of her house.

"The situation is worse than in war. It's awful, awful... they say it will take two days to dig her out because they have to shore up the surrounding buildings," she told AFP.

"She didn't deserve to die like that, she was so good."

As hopes of finding any more survivors in the rubble faded, questions mounted as to why there had been so many deaths in a sparsely-populated area so soon after a 2009 earthquake in the nearby city of L'Aquila left 300 people dead.

They are a group of dirt bike riders, all volunteers, who have spent the last 36 hours flying along the trails and pathways that criss-cross this devastated area in search of those in need of help - be it food, medicine or even just news.

With the death toll nearing 250 following Wednesday's [local time] powerful pre-dawn quake, there are fears that many more remain buried in the rubble of a string of devastated mountain villages.

The toll was likely to rise as crews reached homes in more remote hamlets where the scenes were apocalyptic "like Dante's Inferno," according to one witness.

The magnitude 6 quake struck early Wednesday and was felt across a broad swath of central Italy, including Rome, where residents felt a long swaying followed by aftershocks.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the government had not received any reports of Australians being killed or injured.

"There are no reports of Australians dead or injured to date. Australians in Italy should follow the advice of local authorities," Turnbull said on 2GB radio on Thursday.

The tremor shook the Lazio region and Umbria and Le Marche on the Adriatic coast.

RELATED: See the destruction across Italy

Premier Matteo Renzi planned to head to the zone later on Wednesday (local time) and promised: ``No family, no city, no hamlet will be left behind.''

The hardest-hit towns were Amatrice and Accumoli near Rieti, 100km northeast of Rome, and Pescara del Tronto 25km further east.

The centre of Amatrice was devastated, with entire buildings razed and the air thick with dust and smelling strongly of gas.

Rocks and metal tumbled onto the streets of the city centre and dazed residents huddled in piazzas as more than 40 aftershocks jolted the region into the early morning hours, some as strong as 5.1.

"The whole ceiling fell but did not hit me, marvelled resident Maria Gianni. "I just managed to put a pillow on my head and I wasn't hit luckily, just slightly injured my leg."

Another woman, sitting in front of her destroyed home with a blanket over her shoulders, said she didn't know what had become of her loved ones.

"It was one of the most beautiful towns of Italy and now there's nothing left," she said, too distraught to give her name. "I don't know what we'll do."

As daylight dawned, residents, civil protection workers and even priests began digging out with shovels, bulldozers and their bare hands, trying to reach survivors.

But just a few kilometres to the north, in Illica, the response was slower as residents anxiously waited for loved ones to be extracted 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 for help, help. Rescue workers arrived after one hour... one and a half hours."

The devastation harked back to the 2009 quake that killed more than 300 people in and around L'Aquila, about 90km south of the latest quake. The town sent emergency teams Wednesday to help with the rescue.

Olga Urbani, in the nearby town of Scheggino, said: “Dear God it was awful. The walls creaked and all the books fell off the shelves.”

Residents of Rome, more than 150km from the registered epicentre, were woken by the quake which rattled furniture and swayed lights in most of central Italy.

The quake was also felt in the Marche region, about two hours drive from the epicentre under normal conditions.

The shallow quake struck 10 kilometres southeast of Norcia, a town in the province of Perugia, at around 3.30 am (0130 GMT) according to the USGS, AFP reports.

Shortly after the quake hit, mayor of Amatrice said his town has been reduced to rubble.

"The roads in and out of town are cut off. Half the town is gone," Mr Pirozzi told RAI state television.

"There are people under the rubble... There's been a landslide and a bridge might collapse."

A resident of the Rieti region, which is between Rome and the epicentre of the quake, told the Rainews24 channel that she and most of her neighbours had come out onto the street after feeling "very strong shaking".

In 2009 a 6.3-magnitude earthquake rocked the Aquila region, leaving more than 300 dead.

Italy is often shaken by earthquakes. Another quake hit the northern Emilia Romagna region in May 2012, when two violent shocks 10 days apart left 23 people dead and 14,000 others homeless.