Schools, prison checked after quake 'swarm' near Naples

Rome: Italian authorities were checking schools and a prison on Tuesday after 150 tremors, including the biggest for 40 years, hit the volcanic region...

Rome: Italian authorities were checking schools and a prison on Tuesday after 150 tremors, including the biggest for 40 years, hit the volcanic region near Naples overnight, causing no major damage or injuries but sparking widespread fear.

"I'm scared. I opened this morning but there isn't anyone because people are scared," Gaetano Maddaluno, a 56-year-old hairdresser in the city of Pozzuoli, told AFP by telephone on Tuesday morning.

One 4.4-magnitude quake was registered shortly after 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) on Monday evening at a depth of 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles), according to the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV).

It was part of what the institute called a "seismic swarm" in which some 150 quakes were recorded, including the most powerful for four decades.

Many residents of Pozzuoli rushed out of their homes into the street following the tremors.