The strong earthquake that hit central Italy on Monday has killed more than 150 people, injured some 1,500 and left around 70,000 homeless, officials said.

According to the local media, the official death toll was set at 91 earlier in the afternoon, but rescuers said the death toll has risen to 150.

Italian Police Chief Antonio Manganelli said the 6.2-magnitude tremor which occurred at 03:33 local time (0133 GMT) had left "a horrible scene of death and destruction."

One foreign national has so far been found among those killed, who was a female student from the Czech Republic.

Some 4,000 rescuers were at work and Italy will have access to the European Union's disaster fund, said Premier Silvio Berlusconi who canceled a trip to Moscow to be at the scene.

Helicopters were taking the most badly injured to hospital, while many of those who suffered minor injuries were being sent to Rome.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has declared a state of emergency in the country after the strong quake hit central Italy early Monday. 

Berlusconi has cancelled a scheduled visit to Russia, and is now on his way to the quake-hit areas, RAI TV reported.

Rome's civil protection officials said dozens of people have been injured in the quake as thousands of buildings have been damaged by the quake.

Not long after the quake hit at 03:32 a.m. local time (0232 GMT), Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and Berlusconi held an urgent meeting to assess the situation.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.3, but Italy's geophysics authorities put the magnitude at 5.8.

According to media reports, part of a university dormitory has collapsed in the city of L'Aguila, the quake's epicenter, some 95 km northeast of Rome.

The ANSA news agency reported that dome of a church fell down and the city's cathedral was also damaged.

The temblor has caused panic among residents in L'Aguila and sent many of them to flee their houses. It was felt in Rome and much of the country.

State television RAI said an elderly woman and a child had been killed in a village east of Rome in the Abruzzo region. ANSA said four children died in L'Aquila after their houses collapsed.

Italian civil protection officials, quoted by Italian media, have warned that thousands of people could be left homeless after the earth movement.

The quake came just several hours after a 4.6-magnitude tremor hit north-central Italy Sunday night, which left no damage or injuries.

(Xinhua News Agency April 7, 2009)