SANT’AGOSTINO DI FERRARA, Italy — A magnitude-6.0 earthquake shook several small towns in northeast Italy on Sunday, killing four people, knocking down a clock tower and other centuries-old buildings and causing millions in losses to the region known for making Parmesan cheese.
The quake struck at 4:04 a.m., with its epicenter about 22 miles north of Bologna at a relatively shallow depth of 3.2 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Civil-protection-agency official Adriano Gumina described it as the worst quake to hit the region since the 1300s.
The four people killed were factory workers on the overnight shift when their buildings, in three locations, collapsed, said agency chief Franco Gabrielli. In addition, he said, two women died — apparently of heart attacks. Sky TG24 TV reported one of them was about 100 years old. Gabrielli said dozens of people were injured.
Two of the dead were workers at a ceramics factory in the town of Sant’Agostino di Ferrara. Their cavernous building turned into a pile of rubble, leaving twisted metal supports jutting out at odd angles and the roof mangled.
“This is immense damage, but the worst part is we lost two people,” said fellow worker Stefano Zeni.
In the town of Ponte Rodoni di Bondeno, a worker also died as his factory collapsed, emergency workers told Italian news agencies.
Premier Mario Monti, in Chicago for the NATO summit, said he was returning to Italy before the meeting ends because of the quake.
The quake struck in the farm region known for production of Parmigiano and Grana cheeses. Italy’s farm lobby Coldiretti said that about 200,000 huge, round cheeses were damaged, causing a loss to producers of $65 million.
It also said in a statement that at least three barn roofs collapsed, trapping an unspecified number of pigs and milk cows inside.
Mohamed Atzerc, also from Sant’Agostino, said he had feared for the safety of his three children.
“They were crying. A wardrobe collapsed in front of the door. The light went out, and I thought that everything was collapsing on my children,” who were unharmed, he said.
One woman on the outskirts of Finale Emilia told Sky her 5-year-old daughter was trapped on her bed by the bricks of a 14th-century tower that toppled onto their home. Firefighters and other rescuers freed the child without a scratch after two hours.
6.0
Magnitude of quake Sunday in northeast Italy, an area known for cheese production
200,000
Round cheeses damaged
$65 million
Estimated loss to the region’s cheese producers
