Rescuers hunt all night for Italy earthquake survivors

Most of the dead were in L'Aquila, a city of 68,000, where streets were strewn with rubble and old buildings crumbled like straw houses. Some nearby towns were all but destroyed.

In the village of Onna, which counts 250 residents, at least 24 people died. Wooden coffins were placed on communal ground.

As messages of condolences poured in from across the world, usually squabbling Italian politicians put aside their rivalries and united in mourning.

But there was still room for controversy. Weeks before the disaster, an Italian scientist had predicted a major quake around L'Aquila, based on concentrations of radon gas found around seismically active areas.

He was reported to police for "spreading alarm" and was forced to remove his findings from the Internet. Civil Protection assured locals at the end of March that tremors being felt were "absolutely normal" for a seismic area.

(Writing by Silvia Aloisi; additional reporting by Reuters Rome bureau; editing by Tim Pearce)