- Title
- The L’Aquila, Italy Earthquake of 6 April 2009
- Abstract
- An earthquake hit the Abruzzo region of Italy on the 6th April 2009 at 3:32am local time. This earthquake had a moment magnitude of 6.2 MW and a shallow focal depth ( ~8-9 km, according to the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, INGV, 2009: www.ingv.it ). The epicentre of the earthquake is located 95 km NE of Rome and 10km West of Aquila, the administrative capital of the region of Abruzzo. Aquila has a population of more than 68,000, and was devastated by the earthquake. The earthquake intensity was seen to have reached IX EMS-98 (see section 3) in the proximity of Aquila. In total the earthquake killed 299 people, injured over 1,500 people and approximately 34,000 people are reported to be living in emergency shelters. The total cost of damage to buildings is estimated to be 2Bn to 3Bn Euro (AIR Worldwide), whilst the insured loss to be in the range 200-400M Euro (AIR Worldwide). Though not of very high magnitude compared to some worldwide events, this is a significant magnitude for a European country. The close proximity of the causative fault to the town of Aquila caused near total collapse of historical masonry buildings in its town centre, including the town hall, National museum of Abruzzo, and many major historic churches including that of San Bernardino. The earthquake also severely affected reinforced concrete structures of more modern construction. In particular the “Hotel Duca degli Abruzzi” and halls of residence belonging to Aquila University collapsed. Smaller villages within a radius of about 50km of the epicentre were also damaged. The affected buildings are representative of construction types in many European countries. This earthquake is therefore of particular interest to the UK earthquake engineering community. The UK Earthquake Engineering Field Investigation Team (EEFIT) decided to mount a reconnaissance mission to the Abruzzo region of Italy following the earthquake. This report presents some of the preliminary findings of the team and is written on their immediate return from the field. Further images from the EEFIT Team field mission can be visualised on the Virtual Disaster Viewer (www.virtualdisasterviewer.com). This viewer development is an ongoing project supported by EEFIT and other International earthquake reconnaissance teams. It allows the visualisation of the geo- referenced photos taken by the team, with pre- and post-earthquake satellite images for the affected areas as well as mapped faults. This report represents the preliminary findings from the earthquake and is aimed at helping further teams plan their reconnaissance and act as a means to disseminate the factual findings, including photographs and other exhibits. Further research on the findings will be published in due course by EEFIT members in peer-reviewed journals.
- Publication Date
- March 25, 2010, 2:24 p.m.
- Category
- Geoscientific Information
- information pertaining to earth sciences. Examples: geophysical features and processes, geology, minerals, sciences dealing with the composition, structure and origin of the earth s rocks, risks of earthquakes, volcanic activity, landslides, gravity information, soils, permafrost, hydrogeology, erosion
- Regions
- Italy
- Responsible
- andy
- Language
- English
- Supplemental Information
- No information provided
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