At least 120 reported dead after strong earthquake rocks central Italy

• The 6.2-magnitude quake struck at 3.30am local time this morning while villagers slept in their beds. 
• Voted last year one of Italy’s most beautiful historic towns, Amatrice was flattened by the 6.2 magnitude quake.
• The epicentre was at Rietti near the city of Perugia.

A powerful earthquake killed at least 120 people and destroyed a cluster of small mountain villages in Central Italy Wednesday,as rescue workers were digging frantically through the rubble of historic buildings for any survivors.

Italian Premier Matteo Renzi announced the updated death toll. Among the hardest hit towns was Amatrice, a village of 2,700 in the province of Rieti. Survivors painted a grim picture of devastation following the magnitude-6.2 quake, which struck at 3:36 a.m. and was felt as far away as Rome.

"The town isn't here anymore," said Sergio Pirozzi, the mayor of Amatrice. "We came out to the piazza, and it looked like Dante's Inferno," said Agostino Severo, a Rome resident visiting Illica. "People crying for help, help. Rescue workers arrived after one hour... one and a half hours."

Europe is no stranger to deadly earthquakes. Here we list the most devastating:

• 28 December 1908 –Sicily and southern Italy. This magnitude 7.1 earthquake almost completely destroyed the Sicilian port city of Messina and Reggio Calabria in southern Italy. Between 75,000 and 200,000 people were killed although some estimates put the deathtoll at 95,000.
• 11 January 1693 – Sicily. The most powerful earthquake in Italian history, this magnitude 7.4 quake destroyed at last 70 towns and cities. It caused the death of around 60,000 people.
• 1 November 1755 – Lisbon, Portugal. Known as the Great Lisbon earthquake, it struck on the holiday day of All Saint’s Day at around 9.40am, sparking fires and a tsunami. Geologists have estimated it had a magnitude of between 8.5 and 9. Lisbon was almost totally destroyed and it is thought that a fifth of the city’s population perished. A further 10,000 are thought to have died in Morocco, bringing the deathtoll to an estimated 50,000.
• 26 December 1939 – Erzincan, Turkey. With a recorded magnitude of 7.8, this quake caused extensive damage around Erzincan and along the Kelkit River. Around 32,700 people died.
• 13 January 1915 – Abruzzi, central Italy. This magnitude 6.7 earthquake destroyed the town of Avezzano which sat directly over the epicentre. It left 32,000 people dead and caused $60 million of damage.
• 17 August 1999 – Turkey. More than 17,000 people were killed and 50,000 injured in this magnitude 7.6 earthquake. Nearly 37 seconds of strong shaking caused widespread damage in Istanbul, Izmit, Kocaeli and Sakarya. 
• 3 October 1914 – Burdur, Turkey. More than 17,000 houses were destroyed in this magnitude 7.0 earthquake and around 4,000 people lost their lives.
• 26 November 1943 – Ladik, Turkey. A magnitude 7.6 earthquake that caused the deaths of around 4,000 people and destroyed three quarters of the homes in the Ladik-Vezirkopru area.
• 1 February 1944 – Gerede, Turkey. About 50,000 homes were destroyed in this magnitude 6.5 earthquake and 2,790 people perished.
• 23 November 1980 – Campania and Basilicata, southern Italy. A magnitude 6.5 earthquake that claimed the lives of 2,735 people and left 394,000 people homeless.