Desperate hunt for quake survivors

About 5,000 rescuers are searching the walled medieval city and nearby towns and villages, some of which were said to be virtually destroyed.

Tents were put up on tennis courts and football pitches to shelter some of the 100,000 homeless.

The powerful earthquake struck in the mountainous region early on Monday as residents slept, the country's deadliest quake in nearly three decades.

Ambulances screamed through L'Aquila as firefighters with dogs and a crane worked feverishly to reach people trapped in fallen buildings, including a university dormitory where half a dozen students were believed still inside.

Outside the half-collapsed building, part of the University of L'Aquila, tearful young people huddled together, wrapped in blankets, some still in their slippers after being roused from sleep by the quake. Dozens managed to escape as the dorm walls fell around them but hours after the quake, a body of a male student was pulled from the rubble.

Student Luigi Alfonsi, 22, his eyes filling with tears and his hands trembling, described the scene.

"We managed to come down with other students but we had to sneak through a hole in the stairs as the whole floor came down," he said. "I was in bed - it was like it would never end as I heard pieces of the building collapse around me.

"There was water gushing out of broken water pipes, and the corridor which led to the stairs was partially blocked when a piece of the wall came down."

Some 10,000 to 15,000 buildings were either damaged or destroyed, officials said. L'Aquila Mayor Massimo Cialente said about 100,000 people were homeless. It was not clear if the mayor's estimate included surrounding towns.