1 Dead, 7 Missing After Earthquake on Italian Resort Island

Italian officials say one person has died and seven people are unaccounted for after an earthquake struck the resort island of Ischia late Monday, the AP reports. Giovanni Vittozzi of the carabinieri's civil protection department tells Italy's Sky TG24 that several buildings in Ischia's Casamicciola town have collapsed. He says one woman was killed and seven people are unaccounted for. He says the Rizzoli hospital has been evacuated, except for patients on respirators.

Different seismological agencies are reporting significantly different magnitudes for the earthquake. Italy's national vulcanology department gave a preliminary magnitude of 3.6. But the US Geological Survey put the magnitude at 4.3, while the European-Mediterranean Seismological Center had it at 4.5. All of them gave the epicenter just off Ischia at a depth of 6 miles. While such variances are common, some Italian officials are complaining that the Italian agency's initially low 3.6 magnitude underestimated the power of the quake. (More earthquake stories.)