(ANSA) - A light earthquake rocked Rome and surrounding coastal towns on Monday afternoon, sparking panic among tourists and residents but causing only slight damage.
An elderly man who was initially reported to have been killed after slipping off a ladder during the quake in fact died of other causes shortly before the tremor at 14.02 local time, officials said later.
Experts at the National Geographic Institute said the epicentre of the quake, which registered 4.4 on the Richter scale, was located 30 kilometres under the sea bed 15 km off the coastal town of Anzio. Fearing a tsunami, bathers in Anzio and nearby resorts scurried out of the water while tourists in Rome rushed out of hotels and museums.
Some 70 people checked in at hospitals at Anzio and neighbouring Nettuno but most were simply suffering from attacks of panic. Others hurt themselves falling as they poured out of their homes, doctors said.
"I felt my stomach churning and then when I noticed that the bottles on the counter were shaking and I realised it was an earthquake," said Marco Giori, the owner of a bar in the historic Trevi fountain area of Rome.
"I was out with my three dogs and they got really nervous, yelping and yanking at their leashes and I knew that something was wrong," chimed 70-year-old Serafina Marongiu. People in Rome said they saw shop windows shaking while others reported that the floors shook and chandeliers rocked. Alessandro Amati of the National Geographic Institute said Monday's tremor was the strongest of a series of 23 small quakes which have rocked Italy since the start of the month.
Amati said quakes ranging from a magnitude of 3.1 to 3.4 on the Richter scale were registered in August in Lazio, Calabria, Campania and Sicily. Rome officials have dispatched teams to check possible damage at major archaeological sites such as the Colosseum. Only slight damage at the Rome opera building has been reported so far.
