AT LEAST SEVEN people have died, 50 have been injured, and thousands have been left homeless after a powerful earthquake shook northern Italy over the weekend.

The region surrounding Bologna between Modenaand Mantova was struck by a magnitude-6.0 quake in the early hours of Sunday morning. It was one of the strongest recorded earthquakes to ever hit the region, according to seismologists. The tremor struck at the relatively shallow depth of 10km.

Officials says about 3,000 people have been displaced by the incident, and that attempts are now focused on finding them accommodation. Many residents have set up tents in emergency camps, afraid to return to their homes in case of aftershocks.

Aftershocks did strike the region on Sunday, bringing down some already-damaged buildings.

Several sites of historic value were destroyed by the quake in San Felice sul Panaro, with mayor Alberto Silvestri saying: “We have practically lost all our artistic patrimony,” the Guardian reports.

The deceased include two ceramics factory workers in Sant’Agostino, a person in Ponte Rodoni do Bondeno and a worker in Tecopress di Dosso, who was killed when the foundry roof collapsed, the BBC reports.

Three elderly women are also reported to have died from heart attacks or other illness induced by the earthquake.