Earthquake causes panic and damages homes in Naples
The 4.4 magnitude quake, which struck at 1.25am and was followed by several smaller tremors, was the biggest to hit the Campi Flegrei (Phlegraean Fields) region, in southern Italy, for 10 months.
While the area is known for occasional tremors, Thursday's strong, shallow quake jolted many from their beds.
Photographs of the aftermath showed damaged buildings and rubble strewn across cars, as worried locals huddled in the streets.
Nearly a dozen people were taken to hospital with minor injuries.
One woman was hurt when her ceiling collapsed, while several others suffered cuts caused by shards of broken glass, according to Gaetano Manfredi, the mayor of Naples.
In the Bagnoli neighbourhood, where most of the injuries were reported, dozens of residents flocked to the locked entrance of a sprawling former Nato base and demanded it be opened to shelter people.
The crowd managed to force open a set of large metal gates before law enforcement officials stopped them and diffused tensions.
The tremors were felt across Naples, with power supplies disrupted in some neighbourhoods. It was similar in magnitude to an earthquake last May, which was the strongest to be recorded in the region over the past four decades.
Mr Manfredi said: 'It was a particularly intense quake, similar to one awhile back but with an epicentre closer to the city of Naples, so it was felt more in the city.'
He said several schools had been forced to close, but added: 'The situation is under control.'
Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, said she was monitoring the situation closely and was in constant contact with officials.
Francesca Bianco, director of the Vesuvius Observatory, which monitors seismic activity and active volcanoes in the Campania region, said there was no evidence to suggest an 'imminent eruption' would take place.
Volcanologists have been keeping a close eye on a recent uptick in seismic activity in the region's 'high-risk' zone, where around 500,000 people live. However, experts say a full-blown eruption in the near future remains unlikely.
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