Rescuers search collapsed buildings in Italy after another powerful earthquake hits region near Perugia

ROME (AP) - The Latest on the powerful earthquake that has rocked already stricken central and southern Italy (all times local):

9:15 a.m.

Emergency workers are racing to determine if any people have been killed or injured in the latest earthquake to rock central and southern Italy.

The Sunday morning quake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 was centered in a mountainous area straddling the central Italy regions of Umbria and Marche.

The head of the civil protection authority in the March region, Cesare Spuri, says there have been reports of buildings collapsing in many cities.

A pair of powerful quakes on Wednesday, technically aftershocks from an August earthquake that killed nearly 300 people, may have helped save lives on Sunday.

Many people still were sleeping in cars or had been evacuated to shelters or hotels in other areas following those strong jolts, leaving the most quake-prone historic centers largely empty of residents.

In Norcia, the basilica was destroyed, according to The Telegraph. The church had survived an earthquake in August but photos on social media this morning show much of its structure is now collapsed:

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8:00 a.m.

A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 has rocked central and southern Italy after a week of temblors that have left thousands homeless.

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Center put the magnitude at 6.6 or 6.5 with an epicenter 132 kilometers northeast of Rome and 67 kilometers east of Perugia, near the epicenter of last week's temblors. It struck at 7:40 a.m.