6.3 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Italy

[carmen510]

Link

L'AQUILA, Italy (CNN) -- Rescuers worked into the night in hopes of finding survivors of a powerful earthquake that hit Italy's mountainous Abruzzo region early Monday, killing scores of people and leaving tens of thousands homeless.

Tearful survivors, many of them clad in pajamas and blankets, watched as bodies were pulled from the rubble in the medieval city of L'Aquila, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) northeast of Rome.

The magnitude 6.3 quake killed at least 150 people, L'Aquila's fire department said late Monday. Italy's Civil Protection agency reported at least 1,500 injured and 50,000 without shelter.

Berlusconi said 2,000 tents capable of sheltering up to 10 people each were being set up for survivors, and 4,000 people were working on the rescue effort.

The quake, which struck about 3:30 a.m. local time, is the deadliest to strike Italy in decades and the first major temblor to strike the country in almost seven years.

Berlusconi declared a state of emergency and canceled a trip to Russia to oversee the rescue efforts.

Journalist Delia Gallagher said rescuers were forced to use their hands to dig through ruined buildings in the hunt for survivors.

Three significant aftershocks -- ranging from magnitude 4.3 to 4.8 -- shook the area within six hours of the 6.3 quake.

The 6.3-magnitude earthquake came less than six hours after another quake hit the northern part of the country, the U.S. Geological Survey said. That quake registered 4.6 and happened about 55 kilometers (35 miles) southeast of Bologna.

Italy is close to two major geological fault lines, making it one of the most earthquake-prone countries in Europe.

Surprised No One Made a Thread about this yet. I'm actually quite stunned, I never heard of Earthquakes like this in Italy, only volcanic eruptions, although that's probably a sad reflection of me being negligent to disaster news.

 

[TheLastOne36]

i was looking for a thread about it...

I have an Aunt who lives nearby Aquila. Haven't heard from her yet but i believe she is to far away for it to cause any damage.

 

[Narz]

Maybe they could create makeshift shelters out of all that garbage from Italy's garbage crisis (or was that finally cleaned up?).

Anyway, my condolences to those who lost their loved ones and/or homes.

 

[Aramazd]

Link



Surprised No One Made a Thread about this yet. I'm actually quite stunned, I never heard of Earthquakes like this in Italy, only volcanic eruptions, although that's probably a sad reflection of me being negligent to disaster news.

Well both are usually around tectonic plates so it's not surprising.

 

[Rashiminos]

You just reminded me of a related article:

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L6566682.htm

Italy muzzled scientist who foresaw quake
06 Apr 2009 11:22:00 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Gavin Jones

ROME, April 6 (Reuters) - An Italian scientist predicted a major earthquake around L'Aquila weeks before disaster struck the city on Monday, killing dozens of people, but was reported to authorities for spreading panic among the population.

The first tremors in the region were felt in mid-January and continued at regular intervals, creating mounting alarm in the medieval city, about 100 km (60 miles) east of Rome.

Vans with loudspeakers had driven around the town a month ago telling locals to evacuate their houses after seismologist Gioacchino Giuliani predicted a large quake was on the way, prompting the mayor's anger.

Giuliani, who based his forecast on concentrations of radon gas around seismically active areas, was reported to police for "spreading alarm" and was forced to remove his findings from the Internet.

Italy's Civil Protection agency held a meeting of the Major Risks Committee, grouping scientists charged with assessing such risks, in L'Aquila on March 31 to reassure the townspeople.

"The tremors being felt by the population are part of a typical sequence ... (which is) absolutely normal in a seismic area like the one around L'Aquila," the civil protection agency said in a statement on the eve of that meeting.

"It is useful to underline that it is not in any way possible to predict an earthquake," it said, adding that the agency saw no reason for alarm but was nonetheless effecting "continuous monitoring and attention".

As the media asked questions about the authorities' alleged failure to safeguard the population ahead of the quake, the head of the National Geophysics Institute dismissed Giuliani's predictions.

"Every time there is an earthquake there are people who claim to have predicted it," he said. "As far as I know nobody predicted this earthquake with precision. It is not possible to predict earthquakes."

Enzo Boschi said the real problem for Italy was a long-standing failure to take proper precautions despite a history of tragic quakes.

"We have earthquakes but then we forget and do nothing. It's not in our culture to take precautions or build in an appropriate way in areas where there could be strong earthquakes," he said.

AlertNet news is provided by Reuters

 

[Winner]

i was looking for a thread about it...

I have an Aunt who lives nearby Aquila. Haven't heard from her yet but i believe she is to far away for it to cause any damage.

My sister lives near Milano, so I think she's fine.

But these things shouldn't be happening in Europe

 

[holy king]

earthquakes? not much you can do about this, right?

 

[Arwon]

Maybe they could create makeshift shelters out of all that garbage from Italy's garbage crisis (or was that finally cleaned up?).

Anyway, my condolences to those who lost their loved ones and/or homes.

Wrong region.

 

[holy king]

what, italy has regions?

 

[TheLastOne36]

My sister lives near Milano, so I think she's fine.

But these things shouldn't be happening in Europe

My aunt lives in Latina. I think that is to far from Aquila right?

 

[Winner]

My aunt lives in Latina. I think that is to far from Aquila right?

I believe the earthquake hit a relatively small area.

 

[Mirc]

My aunt lives in Latina. I think that is to far from Aquila right?

It's just out of the radius it hit.

I have relatives in the area too. Thankfully, they are all all right. But still, I couldn't believe the news when I saw them.


Which makes me wonder, we had here a 5.9 quake a few years ago, and it didn't destroy... anything? A 0.4 degree difference shouldn't be that big. What makes some of them so much worse than others?

My sister lives near Milano, so I think she's fine.

But these things shouldn't be happening in Europe

Actually Europe is a very common place for earthquakes to happen! And exactly the most populous places too! Look here:

Spoiler :

 

[Winner]

Actually Europe is a very common place for earthquakes to happen! And exactly the most populous places too! Look here:

Only a fraction of these are big. Unfortunately the Mediterranean region is a bit unstable since it is in fact a large collision zone.

Africa is out to get us...

Which makes me wonder, we had here a 5.9 quake a few years ago, and it didn't destroy... anything? A 0.4 degree difference shouldn't be that big. What makes some of them so much worse than others?

Doesn't it depend on the depth of the hypocenter or perhaps the nature of the waves? Plus, don't forget it happened in a region where buildings are not exactly fit to withstand it.

 

[GoodGame]

One ricther is 10X. And apparently the actualy destructive power is 1.5x the richter value
So the difference would really be 10^(0.4 * 1.5) or 10^6.

The energy release of an earthquake, which closely correlates to its destructive power, scales with the 3⁄2 power of the shaking amplitude.

And what Winner said about construction. I believe with primitive construction, a whole city can be flattened by low order quakes.

 

[Sofista]

Just about a hour ago, a new 5,5 quake hit over there. So far, another dead reckoned.
Yikes, I felt it myself, and live some 900KM north of there.

TLO, don't worry, Latina is not even in the same region as L'Aquila.

EDIT: so far, 229 dead.

 

[dutchfire]

Actually Europe is a very common place for earthquakes to happen! And exactly the most populous places too! Look here:

Spoiler :

1) That picture has so many dots, you still can't see anything.
2) I know that over here, we can measure earthquakes up to like 0,1 richter. http://www.knmi.nl/seismologie/aardbevingen-nederland.html I bet they don't do that in Siberia/Africa/random other uninhabited area. So that probably skews the statistics hugely. (Over here, most earthquakes are the result of the natural gas exploitation in Groningen. This map shows most of the recent earthquakes in the Netherlands in an area of a couple of square kilometers.

 

[Kyriakos]

This is why buildings should be tested, and built in accordance to the newest security rules. In Italy, however, there are a lot of very old buildings, and i suspect that this is why so many collapsed and people died. Here we have earthquakes of that magnitude and bigger, from time to time, but no people ussually die.

 

[thetrooper]

So the difference would really be 10^(0.4 * 1.5) or 10^6.

Interesting maths...

10^(0.4 * 1.5) = 10^0.6

 

[TheLastOne36]

Spoiler :

Lol, there's earthquakes up here in Poland, and even in the Baltic sea?

 

[Züriputsch]

I had always know Italy for volcanos (saw one when i was there last year) but i was suprised by the earthquake