Images of the deadly quake near Rome

Quake death toll  may reach hundreds, with several thousand others injured and up to 50,000 people left homeless

A man walks on debris as he looks for his relatives after an earthquake, in downtown Aquila April 6, 2009. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi. Image may be subject to copyright.

Rescuers sift through the wreckage of a house after an earthquake in the Italian village of Onna April 6, 2009. REUTERS/Chris Helgren. Image may be subject to copyright.

An Italian military carabinieri walks on debris past destroyed buildings after an earthquake, in downtown Aquila April 6, 2009. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi. Image may be subject to copyright.

An Italian police officer walks through the rubble after an earthquake in the Italian village of Onna April 6, 2009. REUTERS/Chris Helgren. Image may be subject to copyright.

L’Aquila’s main hospital was itself damaged by the quake, and only two operating rooms were working. Health officials were trying to set up a field hospital outside. Photo: Timesonline. Image may be subject to copyright.

The body of a victim lies on the street on in front of his collapsed house in L’Aquila, a medieval city in the Apennine mountains 70 miles north of Rome.  (Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty). Image may be subject to copyright.

The homeless carried whatever they had managed to grab as they ran onto the streets – pets in cages, suitcases stuffed with treasured possessions, even pictures from the wall. (Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty). Image may be subject to copyright.

Civil protection officials said that they would have to find shelter for thousands of people in the coming days. (Pier Paolo Cito/AP). Image may be subject to copyright.

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A History of Earthquakes in Italy since 1857  (From Timesonline ).

• 1857   Several towns destroyed and 12,000 people killed in the Basilicata region south of Naples by tremors estimated at around 6.9 on the Richter scale – dubbed the Great Neapolitan Earthquake

• 1905  Around 5,000 die when tremors wipe out 25 villages in Calabria

• 1908  Europe’s most powerful earthquake leaves more than 82,000 people dead as tremors measured at up to 7.5 on the Richter scale hit the Messina Strait between Sicily and the Italian mainland, causing a tsunami

• 1915  The town of Avezzano in southern Italy is destroyed by an earthquake, with the loss of about 32,600 lives

• 1930  Around 1,400 people die in the Irpinia region of southern Italy in a quake measured at 6.5

• 1976  A total of 976 die and 70,000 people are left homeless when a tremor measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale strikes Friuli in north-eastern Italy

• 1980  A quake strikes the town of Eboli, south of Naples, killing 2,735 people and injuring 7,500

• 1997  Two earthquakes in Umbria in September leave 13 dead and more than 40,000 people homeless. Four of the victims were killed when the roof of the Basilica of St Francis collapsed in Assisi, damaging priceless frescoes

• 2001  One woman dies in the northern Italian region of Alto Adige, during a quake measuring 5.2

• 2002  Thirty people, most of them children crushed in their collapsed school, die in San Giuliano di Puglia in southern Italy during an earthquake in October measured at 5.9 on the Richter scale.

Related Links:

• Magnitude 6.3 quake strikes Italy
• Earthquakes