Power cuts and cars crushed by falling boulders in Naples as magnitude 4.7 earthquake hits the southern Italian city

A magnitude 4.7 earthquake has struck Naples as the southern Italian city is hit by power cuts and falling boulders that have crushed cars. 

Authorities have reported no immediate requests for emergency help as backup power has been restored. 

However train and metro services have been disrupted and some buildings across the city have been damaged.  

The quake was centred at the Campi Flegrei area, according to Italy‘s Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology (INGV), west of Naples, at a depth of around 3km.

The area, site of Europe’s largest volcanic crater, is home to frequent seismic activity.

The quake occurred at 5.46pm and had a depth of three kilometres, INGV said.

Firefighters said they received reports of stuck elevators and small chunks of plaster falling but no immediate requests for assistance.

The city of Naples said a high-voltage pylon supplying the city with electricity had collapsed, but backup power had been restored to affected areas.

Police secure the areas of collapses and damages. Pictured: A white car is crushed beneath the weight of falling debris

Elderly residents sit outdoors as they prepare to spend the night in the street for fear of further tremors

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Workers clear debris from a street as cars drive around the city following the earthquake on Friday night

Power cuts were affecting some areas of the city, with emergency workers on-site for repairs, the authorities said.

According to Italian media outlets, the earthquake is one of the strongest ever recorded in the area. 

Residents in some neighbourhoods in Naples rushed out into the street as the magnitude 4.7 tremors hit. 

In recent years Campi Flegrei, a densely populated volcanic caldera which encompasses large parts of the west of the city, has faced increasingly frequent seismic activity.

This has prompted the Italian government to step up monitoring of the region. 

And there are fears that thousands could be displaced as many were forced to leave their homes in Campi Flegrei in the early 1980s amid a seismic crisis. 

In November 1980, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit the Irpinia region of southern Italy, killing around 2,700 people. 

And in 2016, roughly 300 people were killed as earthquakes struck parts of Lazio, Umbria and the Marche regions.