A QUAKE with a magnitude of 5.8 has rocked Italy leaving at least 15 dead just nine days after seven people were killed by a similar shock in the same region. Today�s tremor was felt through much of northern Italy where hundreds of buildings were damaged and destroyed just over a week ago.
Local reports suggest some of the buildings damaged in the earlier quake have now collapsed.
Alberto Silvestri, mayor of San Felice sul Panaro, said: �There are victims. The situation is very serious, some people are stuck under the rubble.�
The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicentre of today�s quake was less than 19miles from Modena, not far from where the magnitude 6 earthquake struck on May 20.
Thousands are still sleeping in tents for fear of aftershocks. It hit at a depth of six miles and left four people wounded, according to early reports. Some schools had been evacuated as far south as Florence.
Bologna resident Raffaella Besola said: �We felt a very strong tremor.�
Police captain Salvatore Iannizzotto said three people died when a factory collapsed in San Felice del Panaro, two others died in the town of Mirandola, one in Concordia and one in Finale.
Another victim was the parish priest in the town of Rovereto di Novi but Iannizzotto said it was not clear whether he died of shock or was killed in the quake.
A resident of Sant�Agostino said: �Last night was the first night we�d spent back in our homes after the first quake. Then another one hit.� Prime Minister Mario Monti pledged to help the region recover.
He said: �I want to assure everyone that the state will do all that it must do, all that is possible to do, as fast as it can to guarantee the return to normality in a region so special, so important, so productive for Italy.�
In Pisa, home of the famous leaning tower, offices were evacuated as a precaution.
Trains were suspended and a bystander was injured when a statue collapsed in Venice.
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