The central Italy region ravaged by an earthquake more than a week ago will need at least $16 billion for rebuilding, the country's interior minister said.

Roberto Maroni provided the rebuilding estimate late Tuesday on state television; Local officials said Maroni's estimate was credible.

The 6.3-magnitude quake that struck central Abruzzo region on April 6 killed 294 people and leveled or damaged tens of thousands of buildings.

Of the 1,467 buildings checked as of Monday, 53% were regarded as habitable, while the rest were at least temporarily uninhabitable, the Civil Protection Department said.

There are about 55,000 people displaced including 33,000 of who are living in the tent camps set up across the region.

Officials say they aim to have people out of the tent cities by winter, which is can be very frigid in the mountainous region.

By the end of October , we have to do everything possible so that people who are living in tent camps today are given a different solution, said Agostino Miozzo of the Civil Protection Department.

Many families will be able to go back once they have been reassured, he said.

So far, the government has approved subsidies for families and business owners, and suspended payments on mortgages and loans until the end of the year.

Quake