Earthquake hits Naples 'like a bomb', with people fleeing into the streets as city is rocked by its most powerful tremors in 40 years

Earthquake hits Naples 'like a bomb', with people fleeing into the streets as city is rocked by its most powerful tremors in 40 years

ELENA SALVONI

One of the most powerful earthquakes to hit Naples in decades has rocked the Italian city and surrounding region 'like a bomb', sending people running into the streets.

Local residents reported hearing a 'roar' and feeling a 'strong tremor' as the 4.6-magnitude quake struck at around 9.15am.

The epicentre of the earthquake was just off the coast of the highly active Phlegraean Fields, a volcanic caldera west of the city, at a depth of 1.5 miles.

Multiple people living nearby in the seaside town of Bagnoli said it 'seemed like a bomb' had gone off when the quake hit.

It measured the same magnitude as an earthquake recorded in the region on March 13, the strongest to hit the region in 40 years.

'We rocked a lot... I'm still shaking,' one woman, living in the Vomero district of the city, told La Repubblica. 

Another local, who lives in the western Fuorigrotta suburb, described the experience as 'terrifying'.

Rail traffic has been temporarily suspended in the city, which is home to more than 900,000 people.

The temblor, of the same magnitude as one that occurred in March and May 2024, was the strongest since the region began scientifically recording quakes some 40 years ago.