A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck central Italy early Wednesday, levelling buildings in several towns as residents slept. The mayor of hard-hit Amatrice said: “The town isn’t here anymore.”

The quake struck just after 3:30 a.m. and was felt across a broad section of central Italy, including the capital Rome where people in homes in the historic center felt a long swaying followed by aftershocks. First images of damage showed debris in the street and some collapsed buildings in towns and villages that dot much of the Umbrian countryside.

The European Mediterranean Seismological Center put the magnitude at 6.1. The U.S. Geological Survey put the magnitude at 6.2 with the epicenter at Norcia, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) northwest of Rome, and with a relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles). The hardest-hit towns were reported as Amatrice, Accumoli and Norcia.

The mayor of Amatrice near Rieti, Sergio Pirozzi, told state-run RAI radio and Sky TG24 that residents were buried under collapsed buildings, that the lights had gone out and that heavy equipment was needed to clear streets covered with debris.

“The town isn’t here anymore,” he said.

In 2009, a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck in the same region and killed more than 300 people. The earlier earthquake struck L’Aquila in central Italy, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of the latest quake.

(AP/ Photo Credit Zaka via Media Resource Group)