The effects of a devastating earthquake in Italy reverberated in many Brooklyn enclaves Monday as residents worried about the safety of family members.

In Bensonhurst, local residents with family in Italy called home after receiving the news that an earthquake had rocked the central part of the country, killing at least 150, according to Italy's Premier Berlusconi. Officials say tens of thousands have been left homeless and about 1,500 were injured.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the big quake was a magnitude 6.3, but Italy's National Institute of Geophysics put it at 5.8 and said more than a dozen aftershocks followed.

AP wire services were used in this report.