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Major earthquake and multiple aftershocks rock central Italy

Estimates put the magnitude of the quake at 6.1.

By Jerico Mandybur and Gianluca Mezzofiore on August 23, 2016

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

UPDATE: Aug. 25, 2016, 8:22 a.m. BST Death toll is now at least 247 dead: 190 in Rieti province and 57 in Ascoli Piceno province, according to Italy Civil Protection

An earthquake with a magnitude estimated at 6.1 rattled central Italy early Wednesday.

By Wednesday afternoon, Italian Premier Matteo Renzi said at least 120 people were dead, most in a mountainous area straddling the regions of Lazio and Marche, with others under rubble, Italy's civil protection agency said.

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The agency, which is coordinating the rescue effort, gave the preliminary toll as rescue teams continued to claw through debris in hard-hit towns.

Social media users are reporting the collapse of numerous buildings in the town of Amatrice and Accumoli, in the Rieti province.

State-run RAI radio said people ran into the streets in the Umbria and Le Marche regions shortly after the quake struck just after 3:30 a.m. local time.

The epicentre was in the Rieti province 100km (65miles) north-east of Rome, and the quake hit at a shallow depth of 10km, according to the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has put the magnitude at 6.2.

Mayor of Amatrice, Sergio Perozzi, told RAI radio that "half of the town is gone".

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

He later added that he fears "dozens of victims" trapped under the rubble.

“The situation is dramatic. There are so many dead I cannot make an estimate," he said. "We have already extracted several deed bodies but we do not know how many there are there’ below.”

This aerial view of Amatrice, posted by the Italian firefighters, shows the level of destruction in the town:

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The mayor of Accumoli said a family of four are trapped under debris without any signs of life.

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It was felt in central Rome, as people in homes in the city's historic centre felt a long swaying.

Sizable aftershocks have also been felt as far as Rome, according to social media reports, and the USGS has recorded significant shockwaves measuring 4.6 and 5.5, hitting the region at 1:56 a.m. UTC and 02:33 a.m. UTC, respectively.

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Facebook has activated its Safety Check -which allows people in the area to mark themselves as "safe" - after the devastating quake:

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The head of Italy's civil protection department compared the earthquake's intensity to Aquila in April 2009, in which 309 people died.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.

Jerico Mandybur

Jerico Mandybur is the editor of Mashable Australia. Previously, she worked as a digital editor at SBS, Oyster Mag, MTV and ASOS. Tweet her at @jerico_m.