An earthquake, measuring 6.2 ± 0.016 on the

moment magnitude scale The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mw, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. It was defined in a 1979 pape ...

, hit

Central Italy Central Italy ( it, Italia centrale or just ) is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), a first-level NUTS region, and a European Parliament constituency. Regions Central I ...

on 24 August 2016 at 03:36:32 CEST (01:36 UTC). Its

epicentre The epicenter, epicentre () or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the Earth's surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or an underground explosion originates. Surface damage Before the instrumental pe ...

was close to

Accumoli Accumoli is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Rieti in the Italian region Lazio, located about northeast of Rome and about northeast of Rieti. It is located in the natural park known as the " Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National P ...

, with its

hypocentre In seismology, a hypocenter or hypocentre () is the point of origin of an earthquake or a subsurface nuclear explosion. A synonym is the focus of an earthquake. Earthquakes An earthquake's hypocenter is the position where the strain energy s ...

at a depth of 4 ± 1 km, approximately southeast of

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and pa ...

and north of L'Aquila, in an area near the borders of the

Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, Abruzzo and Marche regions. , 299 people had been killed.

Background

The central Apennines is one of the most seismically active areas in Italy. The Apennines mountain belt were formed in the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58subduction of the

Adriatic Plate The Adriatic or Apulian Plate is a small tectonic plate carrying primarily continental crust that broke away from the African Plate along a large transform fault in the Cretaceous period. The name Adriatic Plate is usually used when referring ...

beneath the

Eurasian Plate The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate that includes most of the continent of Eurasia (a landmass consisting of the traditional continents of Europe and Asia), with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent and ...

, forming a

fold and thrust belt A fold and thrust belt (FTB) is a series of mountainous foothills adjacent to an orogenic belt, which forms due to contractional tectonics. Fold and thrust belts commonly form in the forelands adjacent to major orogens as deformation propagates o ...

. During the Quaternary,

thrust tectonics Thrust tectonics or contractional tectonics is concerned with the structures formed by, and the tectonic processes associated with, the shortening and thickening of the crust or lithosphere. It is one of the three main types of tectonic regime, ...

gave way to extensional tectonics, with the development of a zone of normal faulting running along the crest of the mountain range. The extension is a result of either subduction rollback or the opening of the

Tyrrhenian Sea The Tyrrhenian Sea (; it, Mar Tirreno , french: Mer Tyrrhénienne , sc, Mare Tirrenu, co, Mari Tirrenu, scn, Mari Tirrenu, nap, Mare Tirreno) is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian pe ...

. In the Central Apennines the zone of extension is about 30 km wide, closely matching the zone of observed extensional strain as shown by

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

measurements. Recent large earthquakes in this area have been caused by movement on SW- dipping normal faults. This was the largest tremor since 2009, when an

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

near L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region killed over 300 people and displaced about 65,000.

Earthquake

The earthquake was initially reported by

INGV The National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology ( it, Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, INGV) is a research institute for geophysics and volcanology Volcanology (also spelled vulcanology) is the study of volcanoes, lava, ma ...

to have occurred at a depth of approximately , with a

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

of 6.0 and epicentre in the

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

. The

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

first reported an earthquake at a depth of with a magnitude of 6.4 and epicentre southeast of

Norcia Norcia (), traditionally known in English by its Latin name of Nursia (), is a town and comune in the province of Perugia (Italy) in southeastern Umbria. Unlike many ancient towns, it is located in a wide plain abutting the Monti Sibillini, a su ...

, but subsequently revised the magnitude to 6.2 . The first seismic wave was recorded at 3:36 a.m. The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre put the magnitude at 6.1. The discrepancies between the different estimates of the magnitude led INGV to explain in a blog post that they use a crustal velocity model specifically calibrated for Italy and give more weight to the seismometric stations situated close to the epicentre. Using global models, INGV further stated that it can reproduce the values reported by foreign agencies. , the initial earthquake was followed by at least 2,500 aftershocks. The tremor and a number of aftershocks were felt across the whole of central Italy (from

Rimini Rimini ( , ; rgn, Rémin; la, Ariminum) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It sprawls along the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia (the ancient ''Ariminu ...

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

), including

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

and

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

. The local school was the first place to be repaired and reopened to the public on 15 September 2016. 2016 Central Italy earthquake (magnitude)

Casualties and rescue work

, the official figures of the

Protezione Civile The (Civil Protection), officially (Civil Protection Department), is the national body in Italy that deals with the prediction, prevention and management of emergency events. It was established in 1992 by , which was updated in 2012, and it is ...

report that the earthquake caused the death of 297 people: 234 in Amatrice, 11 in Accumoli and 49 in Arquata del Tronto."Terremoto Centro Italia: aggiornamento del numero di vittime, feriti e popolazione assistita"
''Protezione Civile'', 26 August 2016. At least 365 injured had to be treated in hospitals, mainly in Rieti and Ascoli Piceno, while people with less serious injuries were treated on the spot. In addition to those rescued with the help of other inhabitants or escaped by themselves, 238 people were pulled alive from the rubble by the timely intervention of the authorities, 215 by the

Vigili del Fuoco The Vigili del Fuoco is Italy's institutional agency for fire and rescue service. It is part of the Ministry of Interior's ''Dipartimento dei Vigili del Fuoco, del Soccorso Pubblico e della Difesa Civile'' (Department of Firefighters, Public Re ...

and 23 by the Soccorso Alpino. Approximately 2,100 people found shelter at emergency camps. Approximately 4,400 people were involved in the search and rescue operations, including 70 teams with rescue dogs. Logistics made use of 12

helicopters A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

, with nine more on stand-by. The earthquake killed 280 Italians, 11 Romanians, and several others. The complete list is seen to the right.

Damage

Terremoto centro Italia 2016 - Amatrice - farmacia (29033930040)

Terremoto centro Italia 2016 - Rio (Amatrice) estrazione di un sopravvissuto (29321782115)

Early reports indicated severe damage in the town of Amatrice, near the epicentre, and in

and Pescara del Tronto. Sergio Pirozzi, the mayor of Amatrice, stated that "Amatrice is not here anymore, half of the town is destroyed." Photos of the destruction depicted a massive pile of rubble in the town's centre with only a few structures still standing on the outskirts. It also cost an estimated economic loss between $1 billion to $11 billion.

Cultural heritage

In addition to the loss of human life, widespread destruction of cultural heritage is also reported. In Amatrice, the facade and rose window of the Church of Sant'Agostino were destroyed, and the museum dedicated to the painter Nicola Filotesio, student and companion of

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual a ...

, collapsed. The earthquake also created cracks in the

Baths of Caracalla , alternate_name = it, Terme di Caracalla , image = File:Baths of Caracalla, facing Caldarium.jpg , caption = The baths as viewed from the south-west. The caldarium would have been in the front of the image , coordinates = ...

. The earthquake was so broad that authorities made structural tests on the

Colosseum The Colosseum ( ; it, Colosseo ) is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world t ...

as well, which was not damaged. The

Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi The Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Basilica di San Francesco d'Assisi; la, Basilica Sancti Francisci Assisiensis) is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Order of Friars Minor Conventual in Assisi, a town in the Umbria region in ...

– a

UNESCO World Heritage site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

with frescoes by

Giotto Giotto di Bondone (; – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto ( , ) and Latinised as Giottus, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the Gothic/ Proto-Renaissance period. G ...

and

Cimabue Cimabue (; ; – 1302), Translated with an introduction and notes by J.C. and P Bondanella. Oxford: Oxford University Press (Oxford World’s Classics), 1991, pp. 7–14. . also known as Cenni di Pepo or Cenni di Pepi, was an Italian painter ...

that were partly destroyed by an earthquake in 1997 – was declared safe after an extensive survey by the head restorer.

Robot-assisted disaster response in Amatrice

3D computer models were used to help damage assessment of the

and the Church of Sant'Agostino. The data for building the models was collected by robots deployed by the European projec
TRADR
Two ground robots and one drone were used inside the San Francesco Basilica, one drone was used inside the Sant'Agostino church, and two drones were used on the outside of both churches.

Controversies

After the earthquake in Central Italy, the court of Rieti discovered that not all the buildings of those cities were constructed or renovated under the antiseismic law of 1974 in which it explained all the construction techniques of an earthquake resistant building. In fact, a family was killed that night by the rubble of a church that was not renovated under that law. Similarly, the Romolo Capranica elementary school in Amatrice partially collapsed, even if in 2013 the town spent 160,000 euros in a

seismic retrofit Seismic retrofitting is the modification of existing structures to make them more resistant to seismic activity, ground motion, or soil failure due to earthquakes. With better understanding of seismic demand on structures and with our recent exp ...

operation that improved the building's seismic resistance, but wasn't enough to comply with 2012 earthquake standards in Italy. The investigation is ongoing to discover the causes that allowed buildings to become reduced to rubble instead of sustaining damage attributed to buildings following anti-seismic regulations, especially Amatrice. French satirical magazine '' Charlie Hebdo'' published a cartoon depicting Italian earthquake victims as pasta dishes, causing "shock and outrage." In response to the reaction of Italians unleashed on social networks, the cartoonist Coco pointed out with another cartoon on the official Facebook page of the magazine: "Italians ... it's not Charlie Hebdo who builds your houses, it's the Mafia!" The French ambassador in Rome, in a statement, pointed out that the French Government's position on the Italian earthquake is not that expressed by ''Charlie Hebdo''.

October 2016 and January 2017 earthquakes

A magnitude 6.1 intraplate

struck Italy west of

Visso Visso is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Macerata in the Italian region Marche, located about southwest of Ancona and about southwest of Macerata. It houses the seat of Monti Sibillini National Park. Main sights * San Giacomo c ...

on 26 October at 9:18 p.m. local time. The earthquake, initially considered an aftershock of the magnitude 6.2 earthquake in August, struck about to the northwest of the August earthquake. The civil protection, however, estimated the consequences less dramatically than feared. According to official data, a man died because he had suffered a heart attack as a result of the quake. On 30 October, an earthquake larger than the 24 August shock struck Norcia with a USGS moment magnitude of 6.6. A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck 25 km northwest of L'Aquila on 18 January at 10:25 local time at a depth of 9 km. A stronger, 5.7 tremor hit the same epicentral area at 11:14 local time. A third earthquake of preliminary magnitude of 5.6 struck 11 minutes later. At 14:33 local time, the fourth tremor of a magnitude 5.2 was registered. These earthquakes were followed by multiple aftershocks. 2016 Central Italy earthquake wide

Maps

2016 Central Italy earthquake aftershock distribution

References

External links

* * Euronews
Italy's worst earthquake
*
EMSR177: Earthquake in Central Italy (reference and damage grading maps)
–

Copernicus Emergency Management Service Nicolaus Copernicus (; pl, Mikołaj Kopernik; gml, Niklas Koppernigk, german: Nikolaus Kopernikus; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic Church, Catholic cano ...

{{Earthquakes in Italy Central Italy earthquake 2016 disasters in Italy Central Italy earthquake 21st century in Abruzzo 21st century in Lazio August 2016 events in Italy Earthquakes in Italy Central Italy earthquake Central Italy earthquake