4.8 magnitude earthquake hits central Italy

A 4.8-magnitude earthquake struck central Italy north of Florence on Monday morning, sending residents into the streets but causing no immediate damage, authorities said.

Schools were closed in some areas as a precaution and trains were delayed pending checks on the railway lines.

Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) measured the quake at 4.8 on the Richter scale, with its epicentre near Marradi, a town of about 3,000 residents in the province of Florence within the Apennine mountain range.

Firefighters wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that frightened residents had been calling emergency services but “no personal injuries have been reported at this time”.

The mayor of Marradi, Tommaso Triberti, told Rainews24 television that firefighters were conducting checks inside private homes.

“There is a lot of concern. All the people are in the street but no particular damage has been reported,” he said.

A 4.5-magnitude earthquake struck nearby Mugello in 2019, again causing minimal damage but cracking the facade of a 17th-century church.

The town of Mugello was hit by a devastating earthquake in 1919, one of the century’s worst, killing about 100 people.

 

 

READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE 

• UAE lifts visa ban on Nigerians after meeting with Tinubu

• Earthquake: Oyo govt sympathises with Morocco

• Nigeria’s malaria death rate drops by 55% — WHO

• VIDEO: Untold story of out-of-school kids in Ibadan

• G-20 Summit: Let’s use our diversity for prosperity, national development — Tinubu

• 5 celebrities who lost loved ones in 2023

• EDITORIAL: The Ogun father-killer