October 2016 Central Italy earthquakes

Shakemap for the 30 October quake
UTC time
	A: 2016-10-26 17:10:37
	B: 2016-10-26 19:18:08
	C: 2016-10-30 06:40:18
ISC event
	A: 611830883
	B: 612638074
	C: 609624987
USGS- ANSS
	A: ComCat
	B: ComCat
	C: ComCat
Local date
	A: 26 October 2016
	B: 26 October 2016
	C: 30 October 2016
Local time
	A: 19:10
	B: 21:18
	C: 08:40
Magnitude
	A: 5.5 Mw
	B: 6.1 Mw
	C: 6.6 Mw
Depth	10.0 km (6.2 mi)
Epicenter	42°51′18″N 13°05′17″E / 42.855°N 13.088°E / 42.855; 13.088
Areas affected	Central Italy
Max. intensity	MMI VII (Very strong) [1]
Casualties	3 deaths [2] [3] Dozens injured [4] ≈ 100,000 homeless [5]

A series of major earthquakes struck Central Italy between the Marche and Umbria regions in October 2016. The third quake on 30 October was the largest in Italy in 36 years, since the 1980 Irpinia earthquake. ^[6]

Earthquakes

A magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck 8 km (5 mi) east southeast of Sellano on 26 October at 19:11 local time (17:11  UTC) ^[7] at a depth of 10 km (6 mi). ^[8] The earthquake was also felt in the city of Rome. ^[7] In the region of Marche some houses collapsed, Italian media reported. There were also power failures and the telephone lines were interrupted. ^[9]

A magnitude 6.1 intraplate earthquake struck 3 km (2 mi) west of Visso on 26 October at 21:18 local time (19:18  UTC). The earthquake, which occurred two months after a magnitude 6.2 earthquake in August, struck about 30 km (20 mi) to the northwest of the August earthquake's epicenter. ^[10] 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. ^[11]

A third large, shallow earthquake of USGS preliminary magnitude 6.6 struck 6 km (4 mi) north of Norcia at 07:40 local time (06:40 UTC) on 30 October. ^[12] Early news and social media reports showed heavy damage to some structures. The village of Arquata del Tronto was destroyed, ^[13] as were several heritage buildings. These include the Basilica of Saint Benedict in Norcia, ^[14] the Church of San Salvatore and other churches in Campi. ^[15] Two women died of sudden heart attacks during the quake. ^[16]

Shocks

Geological aspects

The quakes occurred in a seismic gap which is located between the areas hit by the 2016 August earthquake and the one in Umbria and Marche of 1997. In that gap no strong earthquake happened for more than 100 years ^[17] until 2016.

As the process of faulting along the chain of the Apennine Mountains is a relatively recent one in geological terms, starting 500,000 years ago, the faults are more irregular, so more shaking occurs due to foreshocks according to seismologist Ross Stein from Stanford University. In this case the destructive shock on 26 October was preceded by the foreshock by two hours, causing people to leave their homes and be safer when the larger shock occurred. ^{[18] [19]}

Comparisons with August 2016 earthquake

See also

• August 2016 Central Italy earthquake
• January 2017 Central Italy earthquakes
• List of earthquakes in Italy
• List of earthquakes in 2016

References

External links

• Earthquake in Italy Archived 23 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine on Earthquake Report Website
• EMSR190: Earthquake in Central Italy (damage grading maps) – Copernicus Emergency Management Service