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The BBC’s Alan Johnston reports: ”At least three of the dead were workers, perhaps on a night shift’

An earthquake in northern Italy has killed at least four people and caused thousands of others to flee into the streets, officials say.

The 6.0-magnitude quake struck in the middle of the night, about 35km (22 miles) north of the city of Bologna.

The officials say the three of the victims died when the buildings they were working in collapsed.

Italian TV showed damaged factories and church steeples in the region. Aftershocks have been reported.

Rescue teams are now combing the area amid reports that a number of people may be buried under rubble.

Two people were killed when a ceramics factory collapsed in Sant’Agostino

The earthquake struck at a relatively shallow depth of 10km just after 0400 local time (0200 GMT).

It was felt across a huge swathe of northern Italy, including the cities of Bologna, Ferrara, Verona and Mantua.

The tremor forced many terrified residents into the streets.

Two people were killed in Sant’Agostino when a ceramics factory collapsed. Another person was killed in Ponte Rodoni do Bondeno, emergency workers were quoted as saying by Italy’s Ansa news agency.

About 50 people were injured – but none seriously, reports say.

“I heard a big bang and I ran on the terrace, I was afraid of falling,” a local resident told Ansa.

TV footage later showed people inspecting damaged houses, offices and historic buildings. Parts of a fortress in one town reportedly collapsed.

Emergency officials ordered the evacuation of patients from hospitals as a precautionary measure.

Northern Italy is frequently rocked by minor earthquake, but the country is well-prepared to deal with them, the BBC’s Alan Johnston in Rome reports.

In January, a 5.3-magnitude quake hit northern Italy but caused no injuries.

The last major tremor to hit the country killed nearly 300 people in the central town of L’Aquila in 2009.

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President Obama: “All the leaders here today agreed growth and jobs must be our top priority”

US President Barack Obama has said there is an “emerging consensus” that European countries must now focus on jobs and growth.

Speaking after the G8 summit of some of the world’s leading economies, he said the US was confident that Europe can meet its challenges.

President Obama said leaders had made good progress on a range of issues.

In addition the eurozone crisis, they discussed Iran, Afghanistan and global energy supply.

The leaders of France, Germany, the US, the UK, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia met at Camp David in the US state of Maryland.

Obama said the meeting had been a success

In an earlier communique, G8 leaders committed themselves to promoting growth alongside fiscal responsibility and affirmed that they wanted Greece to stay in the eurozone.

The BBC’s Paul Adams at Camp David says both that communique and Mr Obama’s speech showed the US and French position had won out over Germany and Britain’s pro-austerity stance.

Energy worries

Leaders attending the summit addressed a number of issues, including energy security, climate change and the situation in Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea.

There was discussion of a broad release of national oil reserves to steady shaky energy markets when tough new sanctions on Iran’s oil exports kick in.

President Obama also announced that they had formed a new alliance to focus on food security with African leaders and the private sector.

The focus, however, remained on the crisis in the eurozone.

Speaking to reporters at the end of the summit, President Obama said: “As all of the leaders here today agree, growth and jobs must be our top priority.”

Emphasising that the United States had taken this approach to its own financial crisis, he said he was “confident” that European countries were moving in the right direction.

But he acknowledged that the European situation was “more complicated” than America’s. Earlier, the G8 leaders said “the right measures are not the same for each of us”.

In a statement, the group said it agreed “on the importance of a strong and cohesive eurozone for global stability and recovery, and we affirm our interest in Greece remaining in the eurozone while respecting its commitments”.

The global economic recovery was showing signs of progress, they said, but “significant headwinds persist”.

For its part, the EU welcomed the G8 communique with its dual emphasis on boosting growth and jobs.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said both growth-boosting measures and efforts to restore public finance were needed.

“Opposing the two is a false debate,” said they said in a joint statement.

Leaders will now turn their thoughts to Afghanistan, as President Obama and other heads of government travel to Chicago for a Nato summit on Sunday.