Dozens dead as big quake hits Italy

L'AQUILA, Italy (Reuters) - A powerful earthquake struck a huge swath of central Italy as residents slept on Monday morning, killing at least 27 people when thousands of houses, churches and other buildings collapsed or were damaged.

The dead in Italy's worst quake since 2002 were mainly in L'Aquila, a 13th-century mountain city about 100 km (60 miles) east of Rome with a population of 68,000, and surrounding mountain villages in the Abruzzo region.

As aftershocks continued, officials put the death toll at 27 less than six hours after the quake but said the number was bound to rise.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi cancelled a trip to Moscow and declared a national emergency, which would free up funds for aid and rebuilding. Pope Benedict said he was saying a special prayer for the victims.

Older houses and buildings made of stone, particularly in outlying villages that have not seen much restoration, collapsed like straw houses.

Hospitals appealed for help from doctors and nurses throughout Italy. The stench of gas filled some parts of the mountain towns and villages as mains ruptured.

Residents of Rome, which is rarely hit by seismic activity, were woken by the quake, which rattled furniture and swayed lights in most of central Italy. It struck shortly after 3.30 a.m. (2:30 a.m. British time) and registered 6.3 on the Richter scale.

"MY FATHER IS SURELY DEAD"

"When the quake hit, I rushed out to my father's house and opened the main door and everything had collapsed. My father is surely dead. I called for help but no-one was around," said Camillo Berardi in L'Aquila.

Others considered themselves lucky, as old women wailed and residents armed with nothing but bare hands and goodwill helped firefighters and rescue workers look through the rubble.

"I woke up hearing what sounded like a bomb," said Angela Palumbo, 87, as she walked on a street of L'Aquila.

"We managed to escape with things falling all around us. Everything was shaking, furniture falling. I don't remember ever seeing anything like this in my life," she said.

Rubble was strewn throughout the city and nearby towns, blocking roads and hampering rescue teams.

"Thousands of people (could be left) homeless and thousands of buildings collapsed or damaged," said Agostino Miozzo, an official at the Civil Protection Department.

A resident in l'Aquila standing by an apartment block that had been reduced to the height of an adult said: "This building was four storeys high."

Some cars were buried by the rubble.

In another section of the city, residents tried to hush the wailing of grief to try to pinpoint the sound of a crying baby.

It was the worst earthquake in terms of deaths to hit Italy since 2002, when 30 people, most of them children, were killed in a school collapse in the south.

There were numerous reports of some the area's centuries-old Romanesque and Renaissance churches collapsing.

Part of a university residence and a hotel collapsed in L'Aquila and at least one person was still trapped under the rubble with the number of dead still unknown.

The quake brought down the bell tower of a church in the centre of L'Aquila. Bridges and highways in the mountainous area were closed as a precaution.

The quake was the latest and strongest in a series to hit the L'Aquila area on Sunday and Monday. Earthquakes can be particularly dangerous in parts of Italy because so many buildings are centuries-old.

(Writing by Philip Pullella; Editing by Angus MacSwan)