The 6.5-magnitude earthquake that rattled central Italy on Sunday has left more than 25,000 people homeless in the region of Marche, regional president Luca Ceriscioli said, with additional people feared to be without shelter in neighbouring Umbria, according to dpa. Italy's civil defence agency said no deaths had been reported, but at least 20 people were injured and several buildings had collapsed in the quake - the most powerful to hit Italy since 1980. Many people without shelter are to be brought to the coast, prompting the mayor of the Adriatic city of Civitanova, Tommasso Corvatta, to speak of an "epochal migration." Sunday's earthquake hit at 7:40 am (0640 GMT) in the Sibillini park, a rugged mountain area straddling the Marche and Umbria regions about 120 kilometres north-east of Rome, according to the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology (INGV). Though human lives appeared to have been spared, the destruction of historic ruins and monuments was already being reported in the two regions. In the medieval town of Norcia, the ANSA news agency reported that the 14th-century San Benedetto Basilica and the Cathedral of Santa Maria Argentea had collapsed, and the Culture Ministry's General Secretary Antonia Pasqua Recchia spoke of thousands of reports of damage. "Today, fortunately enough, we weep for our culture heritage and not the dead," Recchia said. "We will use whatever is necessary to rebuild," Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said, hinting at Italy's efforts to overshoot EU deficit limits on the grounds that it needs extra money to deal with reconstruction after a series of earthquakes. Renzi said Monday's cabinet meeting will seek to extend existing relief measures, set aside for victims of powerful quakes earlier in the week and in August, to areas affected by Sunday's disaster. Tents were not an option for those left homeless in the latest earthquake because of the severe cold, the prime minister said, promising that they would be put up in hotels. "Everything has collapsed, I see cloud of smoke, it is a disaster, a disaster," the mayor of Ussita was quoted as saying by ANSA. Traffic was disrupted, forcing emergency services to evacuate the injured by helicopter, said Fabrizio Curcio, the head of the civil defence agency, Protezione Civile. Around 15,000 people have been left without power and many had no access to water, according to the civil defence agency. A huge crack appeared in a mountain near Ussita, not far from the epicentre of the earthquake, images on television station Sky TG24 showed. Pope Francis shared his sympathies with the victims, saying he was "praying for the injured and the affected families." The latest temblors took place about 30 kilometres north of Amatrice, the flashpoint of the 6-magnitude earthquake that struck on August 24 and killed 298 people. Sunday's earthquake was felt hundreds of kilometres away. In Rome, two central Metro lines were halted by the tremor, causing delays, according to the city's transit network ATAC.
