(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/121026-italy-quake-130a.photoblog600.jpg)Mario Tosti / AFP - Getty ImagesPeople who had been evacuated from a hospital wait in a rescue center in Mormanno, southern Italy, after an earthquake early on Friday.By NBC News staff and wire reportsROME -- A hospital was evacuated after a magnitude-5 earthquake struck southern Italy early on Friday, authorities said.
The quake hit at 1:05 a.m. local time (7:05 p.m. ET Thursday) about 3.9 miles underground, north of Cosenza in the Pollino mountains area on the border of the southern regions of Calabria and Basilicata, according to data from the Italian Geophysics Institute (INGV).
At least 14 other tremors followed the initial earthquake, according to INGV's website.
Italian media reported that an elderly man who lived near the tremor's epicenter had died of a heart attack.
An Italian police official told Reuters a hospital in the small town of Mormanno had been evacuated as a precautionary measure because some cracks were found in its structure.
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