An earthquake struck central Italy in the early hours of Wednesday, killing¹ at least 120 people and destroying buildings in towns and villages across the regions of Lazio, Umbria and Marche.

意大利中部周三凌晨发生地震，造成拉西奥(Lazio)、恩伯利亚(Umbria)和马凯(Marche)地区至少159人死亡，许多村镇的房屋被夷为平地。

At least 120 people died and hundreds more were injured in the magnitude 6.2 quake. The hardest-hit towns were Amatrice, Accumoli near Rieti, 80 miles north-east of Rome, and Pescara del Tronto further east.

这场6.2级的地震还造成数百人受伤。官员们担心，最后的死亡人数将会高得多。罗马东北80英里列蒂(Rieti)省的阿马特里切(Amatrice)、阿古莫里(Accumoli)以及更东边的特朗托(Pescara del Tronto)受灾最为严重。

Sergio Pirozzi, the mayor of Amatrice, said more than 2,500 people had been left homeless. Eyewitnesses² reported scenes of devastation³ in Pescara del Tronto. Bodies were carried out of the hilltop town on stretchers as the road into the village had been destroyed.

阿马特里切镇镇长塞尔焦•皮罗齐(Sergio Pirozzi)表示，2500多人无家可归。目击者描述了特朗托震后遭破坏的景象。尸体被担架抬出这座山顶小镇，通往该村的道路尽毁。

The town is one of the places closest to the epicentre and has a population of 2,600.

该镇是距离震中最近的城镇之一，拥有2600居民。

Mr Pirozzi said dozens of people had been killed by the quake, which hit when most people were sleeping at 3.36am local time. “We are preparing a space for the coffins,” he said.

皮罗齐表示，发生在凌晨3点36分的地震已经造成数十人死亡，当时多数人都在睡梦中。“我们正在准备放棺材的地方，”他说。

Emiliano Grillotti, a photographer, reported he had seen people trying to dig through rubble⁴ with their bare hands to try to save a young family.

摄影师埃米利亚诺•格里洛蒂(Emiliano Grillotti)称，他看到人们试着徒手挖掘废墟，设法营救一户有小孩的人家。

“You could hear the cries of the mother and one of the children,” Mr Grillotti told news agency Ansa.

格里洛蒂对安莎通讯社(Ansa)说：“我能听到一位母亲和其中一个孩子的哭声。”

A priest, Franco Gammarota, said he had seen five bodies pulled from the rubble in the town of Amatrice.

牧师弗兰科•加马罗塔(Franco Gammarota)说，他在阿马特里切镇看到五具尸体被从废墟中挖出。

The epicentre of the quake was near the town of Accumoli in the north-east of the Lazio region.

此次地震的震中位于拉齐奥大区东北部的阿古莫里镇。

Its impact was felt across central Italy from Gargano in the heel of the peninsula, to Naples and as far north as Bologna, according to the National Geophysical Institute.

国家地球物理研究所(National Geophysical Institute)表示，整个意大利中部——从位于半岛后跟的加尔加诺(Gargano)到那不勒斯(Naples)，甚至向北远至博洛尼亚(Bologna)——都有震感。

Fabrizio Curcio, head of Italy’s Civil Protection Agency, said it was impossible to give an accurate death toll⁵ as the information was coming in from a vast area.

意大利国家民防局(Civil Protection Agency)局长法布里奇奥•柯西奥(Fabrizio Curcio)表示，由于信息汇集自一大片地区，现在无法给出准确的死亡人数。

He said the quake was comparable in intensity⁶ to one that struck the nearby L’Aquila region in 2009, leaving more than 300 people dead.

他说，此次地震强度与2009年发生在距此不远的拉奎拉(L’Aquila)地区的地震相当，那次地震造成300多人死亡。

Matteo Renzi, Italy’s prime minister, said he would travel to the affected⁷ areas later on Wednesday and vowed⁸ not “to leave anybody alone — no family, no village, no town”.

意大利总理马泰奥•伦齐(Matteo Renzi)表示，他将在周三晚些时候前往受灾地区，并誓言不会“丢下任何家庭、村庄、城镇不管”。

“We must work so that we can continue in the next few hours to find people alive under the rubble and so that we can give hope to all these people.”

“我们必须奋战，这样才能在未来几小时继续在废墟下发现幸存者，这样才能给所有受灾民众带来希望。”