The Italian town destroyed by a magnitude 6.2 earthquake in August 2016 was Amatrice.
The earthquake struck central Italy on August 24, 2016, at 03:36 local time. Its epicenter was near Accumoli, but Amatrice suffered catastrophic destruction because it was close to the shallow hypocenter and contained many vulnerable masonry buildings. The town's mayor said that much of Amatrice had effectively disappeared after the main shock.
The earthquake measured 6.2 on the moment magnitude scale and was followed by thousands of aftershocks. Amatrice, Accumoli, and Arquata del Tronto were among the hardest-hit communities. In total, 299 people died, 388 were injured, and approximately 4,500 people were left homeless.
The disaster occurred in a seismically active part of the Apennines, where extension of the Earth's crust produces normal-fault earthquakes. It is often confused with the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake, another devastating central-Italian event. Later earthquakes, including a magnitude 6.6 shock near Norcia in October 2016, extended the region's crisis.