World leaders meeting for the G8 summit near Italy’s quake-torn city of L’Aquila on Wednesday could be evacuated and flown to Rome in the event of another serious tremor, organisers said on Monday.

Italian media reported that the evacuation plan would be activated if the area was hit by a tremor measuring at least 4.0 on the Richter scale. Leaders would be first led to tents outside the finance police complex where the summit is taking place. If the buildings were seen to have suffered damage then heads of government would be flown from the nearby airfield of Preturo to continue their talks at a police college in Rome.