Italy earthquake in pictures: Dawn reveals scale of devastation from deadly 6.2-magnitude quake

'There are so many dead I cannot make an estimate'

(EPA)

“It was one of the most beautiful towns of Italy and now there's nothing left,” says a resident of Amatrice, one of the places worst affected by the devastating 6.2-magnitude earthquake that hit central Italy on Wednesday morning. “I don’t know what we’ll do.”

As dawn broke, the scale of the damage was laid bare. Aerial images showed destruction throughout the historic town centre, with entire streets reduced to ashes.

On the ground, rescue workers were photographs in rare moments of success - a man was pulled from the rubble, followed by a woman, and a dog.

But there are fears many more will not be so lucky. The mayor of Amatrice, Sergio Pirozzi, told Rai dozens of people have been killed.

"There are so many dead I cannot make an estimate," he said. "We have already extracted several dead bodies but we do not know how many there are below."

The earthquake struck a relatively sparsely populated, mountainous area at the border of three regions, Umbria, Lazio and Marche.

Pescara del Tronto, in the latter region, was another hard-hit village. Images showed the main road was covered in debris. The ANSA news agency reported 10 dead there, though that is yet to be confirmed.

The mayor of nearby Arquata, Aleandro Petrucci, said "all the houses have collapsed" in Pescara del Tronto.

“It's a disaster,” he said. “We are trying to evacuate the village and move them to a sports field. I've just arrived and I feel like crying. I've never seen such an apocalyptic scene except for the L'Aquila earthquake on television.”

That quake killed more than 300 people in and around L'Aquila, about 90km (55 miles) south of the latest devastation.

The mayor of Accumoli, Stefano Petrucci, said six people had died there, including a family of four, and two others. He wept as he noted that the tiny hamlet of 700 swells to 2,000 in the summer months, and that he feared for the future of the town.

"I hope they don't forget us," he told Sky TG24.

Additional reporting by agencies