At least 247 people lost their lives when the quake flattened three towns in the centre of the county – a further 350 people were injured.
Rescuers have been working through the night using bulldozers and their bare hands to find survivors in the rubble – a 10 year old girl was pulled out alive this morning after spending 17 hours trapped upside down in the ruins.
Yesterday's quake comes seven years after the nearby city of l'Aquila was devastated by an earthquake.
300 people died in that 5.5 magnitude tremor in 2009 – and reconstruction has yet to take place.
Rome Correspondent with the Irish Times Paddy Agnew says this latest quake could prove to be fatal for the region as a whole.
