Small earthquake strikes off Italian coast

This picture shows a car that is covered with rubble following an earthquake in Concordia sulla Secchia, Italy, on May 31, 2012. On Wednesday, June 6, 2012, a 4.5-magnitude earthquake again struck Italy, this time off its northeast coast, at a depth of 25.6 kilometers (15.9 miles) causing minimal damage in coastal towns – the latest in a series of tremors in the region. AP/LORENZO MOSCIA, LAPRESSE

ROME—A 4.5-magnitude earthquake struck off northeast Italy on Wednesday at a depth of 25.6 kilometers (15.9 miles) causing minimal damage in coastal towns – the latest in a series of tremors in the region.

The quake was felt in Rimini and Pesaro, where stone fragments dislodged from a historic building in the center forcing a street to be closed off.

The tremor was along a different faultline from two quakes on May 20 and 29 in the same Emilia Romagna region that killed 25 people and wrought havoc.

No injuries have been reported, the civil protection agency said.

Fourteen thousand people in the economically vital region – the home of Parmigiano cheese and Ferrari cars – had to leave their homes because of the earlier quakes or are too frightened to return because of ongoing shocks.