Italy quake death toll climbs to at least 70

A powerful earthquake in mountainous central Italy knocked down whole blocks of buildings as residents slept, killing at least 70 people and trapping many more, officials said Monday. Thousands were homeless.
The earthquake's epicenter was about 70 miles northeast of Rome near the medieval city of L'Aquila. It struck at 3:32 a.m. local time in a quake-prone region that has had at least nine smaller jolts since the beginning of April. The U.S. Geological Survey said Monday's quake was magnitude 6.3, but Italy's National Institute of Geophysics put it at 5.8.
Civil Protection chief Guido Bertolaso said 70 had been killed, but Italy's La Repubblica newspaper said that rescue workers were reporting 92 deaths.
Officials said the death toll was likely to rise as rescue crews clawed through the debris of fallen homes.
L'Aquila Mayor Massimo Cialente said some 100,000 people had left their homes and that many buildings in the city's historic center were damaged. Slabs of walls, twisted steel supports, furniture and wire fences were strewn about the streets and a gray dust carpeted sidewalks, cars and residents.