AT least one person has died and six others are trapped under the rubble of their homes after an earthquake hit the Italian resort island of Ischia at the peak of its tourist season.

Police said all but one of those known to be trapped, including three children, were responding to rescuers and expected to be brought out alive.

One person, however, was not communicating, raising fears the death toll could increase, said Giovanni Salerno of the financial police.

Italy’s national volcanology institute said the tremor struck a few minutes before 9pm local time on Monday, when many people were having dinner.

The hardest-hit area was Casamicciola, on the northern part of the island.

At least one hotel and parts of a hospital were evacuated.

Roberto Allocca, a doctor at the Rizzoli hospital, told Sky TG24 that 26 people were being treated for minor injuries at a makeshift emergency room set up on the hospital grounds. He said the situation was calm and under control.

Mr Salerno said one woman was killed by falling masonry from a church.

At least three people were pulled from the rubble alive, the civil protection authority said, adding that the island had sustained at least 14 aftershocks.

Click here for the full story.

The quake came just two days before the one-year anniversary of a powerful 6.2-magnitude earthquake that devastated several towns in central Italy. It killed more than 250 people in Amatrice and beyond.