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Reporting from Rome -- A powerful earthquake rocked a mountainous region of central Italy early today, killing at least 92 people, trapping victims under flattened buildings and leaving thousands of residents homeless, officials and news agencies said.
After the shaking finally subsided, buildings that had stood for hundreds of years lay in ruins, cries for help could be heard from beneath the rubble and thousands of people were out in the streets bracing for aftershocks.
Residents covered in blood and dust were removed from fallen homes on stretchers. Ambulances took the injured to local hospitals, but news reports said that only one or two operating theaters were in use, with others rendered too unstable and dangerous by the quake.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi declared a state of emergency and canceled a trip to Moscow in order to deal with the disaster.

Monday's quake struck in a region known as the Abruzzo, a scenic, hilly area popular with tourists because of its villages and churches dating back to the Middle Ages. Authorities appealed to visitors to refrain from going out to the region so as not to hamper rescue and relief work.

The epicenter was near L'Aquila, but neighboring towns have also been hit.