Rescue workers continued to search for the missing in the Abruzzo earthquake after a night of powerful aftershocks and torrential rain, with the death toll reaching 179.

Two girls were pulled alive from the rubble overnight, rescue workers said. But 34 people have been listed as still unaccounted for by distraught relatives. Thousands of residents have been evacuated to tent cities set up in sports fields, and 800 farm bed and breakfast establishments have offered refuge to the homeless.

Outlying villages such as Onna and Castelnuovo have also been devastated, and hospitals in the area have appealed for help from doctors and nurses throughout Italy.

The earthquake struck shortly after 330 am on Monday night and registered 6.3 on the Richter scale. It was the worst earthquake to hit Italy since 2002, when 30 people, most of them children, were killed in a school collapse in the South.

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I found a scene of devastation - a jewel of medieval Italy has collapsed

Richard Owen in L'Aquila

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The quake brought down whole blocks of buildings the medieval city of L'Aquila and the surrounding area, jolting residents from their sleep.

This morning as the rain cleared and the sun rose, a stream of ambulances and civil protection units continued to roar through L'Aquila, which has become a deserted ghost town, as firefighters with dogs continued to work to reach people trapped in fallen buildings, including a university dormitory. Many of those evacuated had endured a wet, cold night, adding to the misery of the disaster.

Some 10,000 to 15,000 buildings were either damaged or destroyed, officials said. The mayor of L'Aquila, Massimo Cialente, said about 100,000 people were homeless. Damage to monuments was reported as far away as Rome, where cracks appeared at the third century Baths built by the Emperor Caracalla,

Italy's national police chief, Antonio Manganelli, said several arrests have been made for looting. He said those picked up were "caught while they were stealing from abandoned houses. It's sad."

The Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi declared a state of emergency, allowing him to allocate central government funds to deal with the disaster, and he cancelled a visit to Russia so he could deal with the crisis.

At the hospital Guido Marini, a 23 year old student of electronic engineering, who was being treated for shock and injuries to his hands and legs, said he had spent three hours under the rubble next to the body of his dead flatmate in the centre of L’Aquila before being dug out by neighbours using their bare hands.

“I shouted and shouted” he said. “Thank God they heard me. My mobile phone was nearby and I could hear it ringing but I couldn’t reach it”.

In Piazza Sant’ Andrea in the historic centre Davide De Angelis, 64, was embracing his wife Anna Laura in tears as rescue workers dug in the debris of his house.

“They have found four people alive, but my brother is still under there, and so are my sister in law, my granddaughter and her boyfriend” he said in despair."

As 5,000 aid workers scoured the disaster zone, a row broke out over whether the earthquake could have been foretold. An Italian scientist claimed that he had predicted a major tremor around L’Aquila weeks ago and accused public health chiefs of ignoring his warnings.

Giampaolo Giuiliani, of the national physics laboratory in the nearby Gran Sasso mountain range, said that he had been reported to the police for “spreading panic” among the population after he predicted a major tremor. Mr Guiliani believes that seismic activity can be linked to phases of the Moon and the Earth’s alignment to Venus. “My prediction unfortunately proved correct,” he said.

Government officials dismissed his findings and experts said that there was no scientific basis for the prediction. Enzo Boschi, president of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, said: “Every time there is an earthquake there are people who claim to have predicted it. It is not possible to predict earthquakes.”

But he added that the real problem was a failure to take proper precautions, despite a history of tremors. “We have earthquakes but then we forget and do nothing. It’s not in our culture to take precautions or build in an appropriate way in areas where there could be strong earthquakes.”

Local people said that seismic activity had increased recently. The first tremors were felt in mid-January and continued at regular intervals, creating mounting alarm in the area. One woman whose home collapsed said that there was a severe jolt a week ago. Another woman described the quake as “the apocalypse — our house collapsed”. She added: “For three months there have been regular tremors and they’ve been getting stronger.”

Mr Berlusconi said: “The message to people is not to stay in damaged buildings and houses. We particularly invite them to take their children and families and to see whether they can go somewhere else and perhaps stay with friends or relatives for a few days. Nobody can say for certain that there is not going to be another earthquake in the next few hours and days.”

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