Three earthquakes have hit central Italy in short succession, with tremors felt in the capital, Rome, forcing an evacuation of the underground train system.
The German Research Centre for Geosciences, which operates a regional quake monitoring system, said a quake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.5 hit the region north of Amatrice at about 0925 GMT on Wednesday, Aljazeera reported.
A second quake with the same magnitude hit the same area about 50 minutes later.
A third quake was also reported shortly after, hitting 110 km northeast of Rome with a depth of 40 km, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Center.
The mountainous Amatrice region was shaken by three quakes last year, killing nearly 300 people and causing significant damage to older buildings.
