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At least 247 people are dead and hundreds injured after a strong earthquake rocked central Italy Wednesday. Officials say the death toll is expected to rise as the towns dig out from the rubble.

The magnitude 6.0 quake hit especially hard in the tourist-filled towns of Amatrice and Accumoli. During the summer, vacationers seek out the region to escape the heat of Rome and other areas.

Rescuers are using shovels, bulldozers and even their bare hands to dig out victims. For those that made it out, there are stories of miracles.

"The whole ceiling fell but did not hit me. I just managed to put a pillow on my head and I wasn't hit," Maria Gianni explained.

The latest quake is already being compared to one in 2009 that killed more than 300 people and struck just 50 miles to the south.

In Rome today, the pope skipped his normal catechism lesson and led pilgrims in prayer for the earthquake's victims.

Meanwhile, rescuers are hoping to find as many survivors as possible and struggling to make sense of what happened.

"We are living through this immense tragedy. I really don't know what to say. We are living through this tragedy and we are only hoping there will be the fewest number of victims possible and that we all have the courage to move on," Rev. Savino D'Amelio, a priest in Amatrice said.

It is likely that the death toll will rise as crews reach homes in remote hamlets. In Amatrice entire blocks of buildings were razed and the air remains clouded with thick dust and gas.

"The town isn't here anymore," said Sergio Pirozzi, the mayor of the Amatrice. "I believe the toll will rise."

The town, roughly made of 69 hamlets, was jolted by 40 aftershocks in the early morning hours. Residents sought shelter in piazzas as rock and metal tumbled into the streets.

"It was one of the most beautiful towns of Italy and now there's nothing left," said one resident, too distraught to give her name. "I don't know what we'll do."

Germany, France and Israel have already volunteered to help Italy with rescue and recovery efforts. That could mean a great deal in a region that has literally changed overnight.

"We need chain saws, shears to cut iron bars, and jacks to remove beams: everything, we need everything," civil protection worker Andrea Gentili told The Associated Press.

A geologist in Poland says slow but constant under-surface movement of the African Plate toward Europe caused the quake. Jerzy Zaba of Silesian University says a wedge-shaped front of the plate is pressing into the Eurasian Plate and pushing into regions like Italy.