The death toll from the earthquake in central Italy's Abruzzo region rose to 287 on Thursday, Italian media reported.

Days after the 5.8 magnitude earthquake on Monday, aftershocks continued to jolt the region, with 71 seismic events recorded Wednesday night, Abruzzo Governor Gianni Chiodi said.

There had been a total of 1,000 aftershocks since the quake struck the region on Monday, he said.

During a visit to quake-hit areas Thursday, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said there was "widespread irresponsibility" as many modern, supposedly earthquake-proof buildings collapsed when Monday's devastating quake hit Abruzzo region.

"There needs to be an examination of conscience to understand what urgently needs to be done so that this never happens again," said Napolitano.

"Nobody must turn a blind eye in these cases -- not the builder, nor the buyer, nor those asked to carry out checks," he said.

Concerns have been raised over whether anti-seismic building rules have been strictly observed after modern buildings failed to stand up to Monday's quake, including L'Aquila's San Salvatore hospital, which opened in 2000 but had to be evacuated after its walls cracked, according to the Ansa News Agency.

Premier Silvio Berlusconi said earlier on Thursday it was still too early to estimate the costs of rebuilding the quake-stricken region of Abruzzo, but this would likely require "several billion euros."

Meanwhile, the government has approved a package of emergency measures to ease financial pressures on the 29,000 people left homeless by the earthquake.

According to the plan, families will receive up to 400 euros a month to help with rent while business owners, including farmers, who have had to cease activity because of the quake will receive a monthly allowance of 800 euros.

Electricity and gas bills for the stricken areas have been suspended for two months and insurance contributions have also been put on hold, while survivors will be able to renegotiate mortgages with banks.

Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti said government aid to deal with the disaster had been increased to 100 million euros.

The government also approved the deployment of 700 troops to patrol the quake-hit areas alongside police to prevent looting. Some 19,000 survivors from the quake are currently housed in tent camps, while 10,000 others are allowed to live in hotels paid by the state.

(Xinhua News Agency April 10, 2009)