(VOVworld) – Italy has declared a state of emergency in the regions worst hit by Wednesday's earthquake to bolster rescue activities and the eventual rebuilding process, Italian national news agency ANSA reported after a government meeting on Thursday.

Rescue workers and sniffer dogs searched for people trapped in collapsed buildings in Amatrice, after earthquake on Wednesday (Photo: Xinhua/VNA)

The Italian Banking Association (ABI) has told its branches to cease collection of loans in the towns affected by the earthquake. The Civil Protection Agency called on people to donate money to help earthquake victims through text messages (SMS) with 2EUR for a message. 45,500 messages have been received.

In the latest update, the death toll from the 6.2 earthquake in central Italy was revised downwards to 241 on Thursday but officials cautioned it could rise again. Earlier the national rescue agency said this earthquake was the country’s strongest since the 2009 earthquake in eastern Italy, which killed 308.