Latest Earthquake in Italy May Have Dire Consequences
The nation's strongest quake since 1980, Italy's latest earthquake may have a long-term impact on fault lines.
A 6.6-magnitude earthquake rocked central Italy on Sunday morning, and is believed to be the strongest quake to hit the nation in decades.
The earthquake at about 7:40 a.m. local time was centered near Norcia, Italy, a town in the Perugia region about 150 kilometers northeast of Rome. Aftershocks were reported as far away as Venice. The quake brought down several buildings but no deaths were reported; many had evacuated (25,000 are now reportedly displaced) after the area experienced a foreshock of a lower magnitude.
Italy Prime Minister Matteo Renzi called the quake "the strongest since the Irpinia one," a 6.9-magnitude earthquake in southern Italy in November 1980 that killed some 3,000 people.
An earthquake of a comparable magnitude (6.2)
