ROME - A strong earthquake tremor measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale was felt throughout south central Italy Thursday evening, seismologists said.

 The epicentre of the quake tremor was near the port city of Termoli in the Molise region. After the initial tremor of 5.2 was recorded at 20:19 on Thursday evening, 26 smaller quakes followed which were nonetheless felt across Abruzzo, Campania and Lazio. 

 So far, no one has been reported as injured, but some buildings have been damaged. 

 On Tuesday evening there was the first single quake in the same location, recorded at 4.7 on the Richter scale. Almost 48 hours later, this series of 27 tremors followed.  

 All earthquake data is recorded by the National Seismic Network of the National Institue of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV). 

 "We are continuing to analyze the data to understand the characteristics of the faults that have been activated in recent days. The area is little known from the seismic point of view due to a limited documentation of historical seismicity. We want to clarify, however, whether this fault is a different one to that which caused the earthquakes of 2002 in San Giuliano di Puglia, although they have similar characteristics," conclued the note of the INGV.

 Thursday evening's tremor was felt as far as Rome and on the Sorrento peninsula as well as in Apulia and the Abruzzo region.

 jp-lb