Medolla , Italy ( CNN ) -- The death toll from a 5.8-magnitude earthquake in northern Italy rose to 17 after the discovery of another body , officials said Wednesday , as questions were asked about why factory buildings collapsed . The latest body was found in the rubble of the collapsed factory in the area of Medolla , Italy 's civil protection agency said . The prosecutor 's office in the province of Modena , where the quake was centered , opened an investigation Wednesday into the cause of death of the quake victims , many of whom were factory workers . Investigators will examine how the factories were built and why they could n't withstand an earthquake of Tuesday 's magnitude . Modena 's chief prosecutor , Vito Zincani , told CNN that as modern buildings , they should have remained standing . Most of the modern structures in the area were not damaged , he said , so the fact that some factories collapsed `` shows an anomaly that needs investigation . '' Look at high-resolution images of the disaster . The earthquake , which forced thousands of people from their homes , came nine days after a 6.0-magnitude quake struck the same region , killing seven people . Tuesday 's quake , which struck at about 9 a .m . local when many people had begun work , was followed by dozens of aftershocks . The U.S. Geological Survey recorded one of 5.6 magnitude . Italian ministers met Wednesday morning and decided on several measures to be taken in the aftermath of the quake . The government declared a state of emergency in the quake area and set June 4 as a national day of mourning , according to a press statement . An extra two-cent tax will also be added to gasoline to help finance the recovery effort , it said . Italy 's President Giorgio Napolitano , Prime Minister Mario Monti and the speakers of both Italian houses of parliament on the earthquake met later Wednesday at the presidential palace in Rome to discuss the disaster . The towns of Mirandola and Cavezzo , northwest of the city of Bologna , were closest to the epicenter , civil protection authorities said . Witnesses reported on Twitter that Cavezzo was about 70 % destroyed . Pictures purportedly from the town , as well as a video stream from Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera , show damaged and destroyed buildings . Churches and historic structures were among the affected buildings . In the small town of Novi di Modena , a 65-year-old priest died inside his church as he tried to save its statue of the Madonna . Construction workers who were out surveying the damage in Medolla were emotional as they spoke of their experiences a day earlier . Mohmammed Mouhalhal told CNN he was at work when the earthquake struck . He and his fellow construction workers now fear for their jobs and their safety , he said . He said no one could sleep Tuesday night and they stayed outside for fear of further quakes . Some 50 tremors were felt in the area overnight . Italian authorities are still assessing the economic impact of the earthquakes on the region , which lies in northern Italy , the heartland of the country 's manufacturing industry . Leaders of agricultural and industrial organizations , speaking to Italian media , have estimated the cost of the disaster at nearly one billion euros . The Italian daily newspaper Repubblica puts the damage to the biomedical industry in Medolla alone at about â‚¬600 million ( $ 751 million ) . Many cheese makers are also among those affected . Stefano Berni , president of the consortium that makes Grana Padano , a hard cheese similar to Parmesan , told CNN that some 350,000 whole cheeses , each weighing 40 kilograms ( 88 pounds ) , had been shaken to the ground . No more than 40 % of those are likely to be salvageable , he said , leading to estimated losses of â‚¬70 million ( $ 88 million ) . About 600 cheese producers located in the area north of the earthquake epicenter have suffered damage to their production centers and warehouses , he said . About 50,000 families , including the milk producers and cheese makers , work for the industry . Other factories and warehouses that have not been damaged by the quake will still suffer losses because they have had to halt production for safety checks . Geophysicist Antonio Piersanti , of the National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology , told Corriere della Sera that it was possible more earthquakes could follow in the coming weeks . The last significant earthquake in this area was in 1571 . It was followed by about four years of aftershocks . CNN 's Hada Messia and Ayesha Durgahee contributed to this report .
NEW : Industrial and agricultural groups warn of a huge cost resulting from the earthquake . NEW : Rome 's president , prime minister and parliamentary leaders meet in Italy . Corriere 's chief prosecutor opens an investigation into the collapse of factories . The quake struck the same region where 5.8-magnitude people were killed a day earlier .