Aftershocks on Tuesday continued to cause panic in the Abruzzo capital L'Aquila and neighbouring towns more than 32 hours after an earthquake that has left at least 179 dead.
Two strong quakes, one registering 4.7 on the MMS scale and lasting for around a minute, shook buildings at 11:27 Tuesday (09:27 GMT) and resulted in shaky plaster and cornices collapsing in L'Aquila.
The aftershocks caused panic among survivors who had spent the night in their cars outside their homes, many of whom fled away from the buildings fearing further collapse.
Seismologist Francesco Mele of the National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology (INGV) said there had been around 280 aftershocks since the main quake struck at 03:33 local time (01:33 GMT) on Monday, registering 6.2 on the MMS scale.
The most violent aftershock, of 4.8 magnitude, occurred at 01:15 Tuesday (23:15 GMT Monday).
Mele said the INGV was setting up six new monitoring stations a few kilometres from the fault line in the area, while four more would be installed later on Tuesday.
