A WOMAN from York has described the moment she woke as a major earthquake hit central Italy in the early hours of this morning.

Simona Manni lives in York, but had yesterday arrived in her home village of Acquasparta about 80km from the epicentre, to spend two weeks with her family.

Simona has described waking up to feel the house shaking violently - so much that they struggled to move around the room - and fleeing down the stairs and into the open. The ground shook for as long as 20 seconds, she said, much longer than the earthquakes they normally feel, and the noise was intense.

"Most people in the village left their homes and gathered in the streets. Some went back inside after the shake was over to collect their phones and check in with family and friends," Simona added.

"Fortunately, no building in this village was affected. We hesitated going back inside, and in fact an hour later there was a second strong but shorter shake. After that, we kept on feeling minor shakes every 20 minutes or so. Apparently more than 50 shakes have been recorded since last night in the area."

At least 37 people are dead and 150 missing after the 6.2 magnitude earthquake, and rescue operations are continuing in villages closer to the epicentre around Accumoli, Amatrice, and Pescara del Tronto.

Now Simona and her family are following the news of the rescue operations, but people in the area have been told to keep off the roads so ambulances and rescue crews can get through.

Many are planning to sleep outdoors tonight, she added, in case more aftershocks hit.

"We are all shaken but grateful to be safe and heartbroken for those who have lost their lives and family members," she said.

Although Acquarsparta escaped serious damage in today's earthquake, Simona said the tremors felt more severe than anything they had experienced before.

"Earthquakes here are frequent, we experience small ones almost every year.

"We experienced a wave of  intense quakes in 1997, when the village next door had most of its historical centre destroyed. Then in 2009, a major earthquakes happened in L'Aquila killing 300 people, and we could feel that one very well even though epicentre was more than 100km away.

"However, this earthquake was definitely more violent than any other experiences in my lifetime. Probably because the epicentre was closer to us and also very superficial (just 4kms in depth), the people in this village felt it very strongly."