Reeling Italy hit by quake triple-punch

Three earthquakes hit central Italy yesterday in a seismic triple-punch that brought fresh terror to a snowbound mountainous area still reeling from deadly quakes last year.

The epicentres were all close to the town of Amatrice, where nearly 300 people died in an earthquake in August. There were no reports of casualties in the three hours after yesterday's first shock struck at 10:25 am.

Monitors put its strength at between 5.1 and 5.3 magnitude. A second, 50 minutes later, was measured at 5.7 by the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre.