A powerful earthquake shook central Italy yesterday, leaving at least 120 people dead and a trail of destruction across several mountain villages packed with holidaymakers. With 368 people injured, some critically, and an unknown number trapped under rubble, the death toll from the pre-dawn quake was expected to rise, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said after visiting the badly-hit village of Amatrice."This is not a final toll," he warned as hundreds of emergency services staff and volunteers prepared to work through the night in the hope of plucking more survivors from the ruins.The 6.2 magnitude quake struck when most residents were asleep, razing homes and buckling roads in a cluster of communities some 140km east of Rome.A family of four, including two boys aged 8 months and 9 years, were buried alive when their house in Accumoli imploded. As rescue workers carried away the body of the infant, the children's grandmother blamed God. "He took them all at once," she wailed.The army was mobilised to help with special heavy equipment and the treasury released $265-million (about R4-billion) of emergency funds. At the Vatican Pope Francis cancelled part of his general audience to pray for the victims.Rescue workers used helicopters to pluck trapped survivors to safety in villages cut off by landslides and rubble."It's all young people here. It's holiday season, the town festival was the day after tomorrow, so lots of people came for that," said Amatrice resident Giancarlo, 65, sitting in just his underwear.Sky News quoted Agostino Severo, a Rome resident visiting Illica, north of Amatrice, as saying: "We came out to the piazza and it looked like Dante's Inferno. People crying for help."Amatrice mayor Sergio Pirozzi said: "Three quarters of the town is not there any more. The aim now is to save as many lives as possible. There are voices under the rubble. We have to save the people there."..