L'Aquila, Italy - Almost a week after a devastating earthquake hit central Italy, authorities on Sunday terminated the search for survivors with the death toll standing at 294. A
59-year-old man who died in hospital late Saturday was the latest victim of the earthquake that struck the Abruzzo region on Monday.

By Sunday morning all missing people were accounted for, but officials said they could not exclude the possibility of more being found under rubble in the city of L'Aquila and other badly damaged towns.

A 20-year-old woman rescued on Wednesday was the last person to be pulled alive from wreckage.

On Sunday, with Easter being celebrated in many parts of the world including Italy, thousands of people made homeless by the quake attended mass services at makeshift chapels erected at several tent camp shelters.

"It's Easter for us too, despite the tragedy and the rubble of the earthquake," L'Aquila Archbishop Giuseppe Molinari told hundreds of faithful gathered for mass under a plastic tent at the main homeless camp outside the devastated city center.

"The resurrection of Christ is also the resurrection of L'Aquila," he said.

The camps are providing shelter for some 17,000 people, most of whom abandoned their homes shortly after the earthquake which registered a magnitude of 6.2, struck in the early hours of Monday.

Prosecutors say they are investigating why so many modern buildings were flattened by the earthquake, amid allegations that safe construction procedures were ignored in an area known for its high seismic risk.