Palermo, Sicily ? The strongest earthquake in 20 years shook the island of Sicily early Friday, injuring three people and damaging the Parliament building and a church.

Italian news reports said two elderly people died of heart attacks as a result of the quake. It struck at 3:21 a.m., when most residents of the island were sleeping, and had a magnitude of 5.6, the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology said.

Several buildings, including a church and a historic palazzo housing the Sicilian Parliament, were severely damaged but no buildings collapsed. It was the strongest quake in Sicily in 20 years, Italian seismologist Calvino Gasparini said.

The quake’s epicenter was about 25 miles northeast of Palermo in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It was followed by more than 70 aftershocks, said Mario Cerrone, of the Palermo civil defense service.

“We left our destiny in the hands of God,” said Enza Eterna, a restaurant worker, who said she and her husband were jolted awake by the temblor.

Thousands of people in Palermo fled their homes, fearing they might collapse, but the Eternas didn’t go out despite the memory of a 1968 quake that killed nearly 400 people.

“We heard everything shake, but stayed home because my husband is sick,” she said.

Palermo’s St. Ann’s Church was also damaged, with parts of the ceiling falling around the pulpit.

The quake lasted about 20 to 30 seconds and was followed by two large aftershocks. Another large aftershock was registered five hours after the quake hit.

Sicily, the island just west of the Italian mainland’s toe, has been struck several times by major earthquakes. There was the 1968 quake, and in 1908, a quake leveled the city of Messina, killing 83,000 people.