Natural disaster Another earthquake in central Italy

Angela

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Not again...

"
  • Earthquake of magnitude 6.2 struck at 3:36am
  • Amatrice and Accumuli, in Lazio, and Arquata and Pescara del Tronto, in Marche, worst affected
  • Epicentre in Norcia, near Perugia.
  • Lazio region hit the hardest
  • Strong aftershocks.
  • Tremors felt in Rome.
  • Death toll confirmed so far at 73.
  • People in the area asked to give blood.
  • Hospital in Amatrice collapsed."
http://www.thelocal.it/20160824/live-many-dead-in-central-italy-earthquake

"Two of Amatrice’s most important historical sites have partially collapsed after sustaining heavy damage in the quake, according to Italy's Culture Ministry.
The once-impressive dome of the 13th century Basilica of San Francesco has caved in completely. The church is noted for its impressive series of 14th century frescoes.
Also badly damaged is the 14th century church of Sant’Agostino, which is located near the town's historic walls. The church was famed for its Gothic doorway."

Terremoto_Macerie_Amatrice_R439_thumb400x275.jpg


A few of the kids in our town have been studying at the University for Foreigners in Perugia over the summer, so the phone lines have been burning up.

Italy sits on two tectonic faults, which is why we have so many earthquakes. The following article lists some of the major ones in the last century or so.
http://www.thelocal.it/20160824/italys-deadliest-quakes-over-the-last-100-years

We had a minor one just recently at home; in fact, we get these episodes every few years.
http://www.centrometeoitaliano.it/t...l-rischio-sismico-dell-area-23-06-2016-40902/

This is the one from 2013 centered in a very nice little town in the more "Tuscan" part of the Lunigiana, near the border with the Garfagnana, called Fivizzano. It's a lovely place to get away from the heat of the summer; we get lots of English tourists there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1OboCPCdgU

This is why we can't solve our energy problems by building nuclear reactors like France.


 
it's terrible, every time I hear/read about it the death toll is higher
I heared L'aquilla earthquake was just 2 years ago, and death toll was 300

has this area allways been like that, or is it recently?
I guess there is very little to do against earthquakes unless making constructions earthquake proof

and I remember when I visited Napoli
if I remember well a sudden eruption of gasses could endanger 3 million people ?
half of the Italian population south of Roma lives near Vesuvius, correct ?
 
it's terrible, every time I hear/read about it the death toll is higher
I heared L'aquilla earthquake was just 2 years ago, and death toll was 300

has this area allways been like that, or is it recently?
I guess there is very little to do against earthquakes unless making constructions earthquake proof

and I remember when I visited Napoli
if I remember well a sudden eruption of gasses could endanger 3 million people ?
half of the Italian population south of Roma lives near Vesuvius, correct ?

I think the seismic activity goes in cycles, and we're in a "hot" stage right now. As I said, in my own area we're getting one every few years lately. If it's not that it's terrible floods. I had friends who lost their house in the last one. In the summer, you can walk or at least wade across in certain spots:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...fluenza_fiume_Magra_con_torrente_Aulella2.jpg

This is what it looked like during the flood:


1319561429619_1.jpg


You couldn't get in or out for days.


I've sometimes wondered if that fatalistic attitude that I think is so present in a lot of Italians doesn't stem in part from always having lived with these kinds of disasters. I think the Greeks have it too.

Our population centers are limited in part by our topography; all the major population centers are in our few flat plains.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Europe_topography_map_en.png

You can see how it correlates with population density, and indeed the area around Napoli and the Campanian plain in general is very densely populated. Also, all those explosions of Vesuvius have created extremely fertile soil for agriculture. I think the fruits and vegetables there have no equal anywhere in the world; they're simply bursting with flavor; our's in the north don't compare, in my opinion (nor does the fish for that matter, but that's another issue). It's one of the reasons I so love going to the Amalfi peninsula.
http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/downloads/maps/grump-v1/grump-v1-population-density/itadens.jpg
itadens.jpg


I haven't thoroughly researched this, but this article says that there are 600,000+ people living in the "red zone" around Vesuvius, and an eruption with accompanying earthquakes is "overdue", or so they say. The actual danger zone could easily be 3,000,000 people.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/natural-disasters/mount-vesuvius.htm

The Aquila (Abruzzi) earthquake was in 2009.

In 1997 it was the turn of Assisi.

A lot of the deaths in these smaller quakes could be avoided if we had the kind of building codes that are in place in California, and they were followed, but bigger quakes are a different story, and of course you can't change the construction of our many architectural wonders. I weep for the people, but I wept for the Basilica of St. Francis too. That's our patrimony.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/e...-shatters-basilica-of-st-francis-1241382.html

This is an incredible video of what happened in Assisi, some of the worst destruction was in the aftershock and the workers were able to film it as it happened.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3fWJYvpWrI


It's such a beautiful city, Assisi, as you discover if you stay for a day or two and can explore it before and after the bus loads of pilgrims depart. If people are of a religious or even just spiritual leaning it is far more important than Rome. Rome is the Church Triumphant...Assisi is is the spiritual church. Plus, who doesn't love St. Francis.
 
earthquakes indeed often come in cycles
if you have one, more may follow in the years to come
 
Unfortunately Italy is a nation at risk about earthquake, especially Appennines.
 

This is why we can't solve our energy problems by building nuclear reactors like France.

well my condolencies and sympathy to area residents, from someone who knows about earthquakes and lives in 6th more 'shaken' country in the world,

Earthquake is unpredicted, but lately using statistics, geology, drilling samples etc etc we know and we can estimate when it comes, even its density with a fault less than 1 Richter scale,

Anyway, this was part of my studies, as also living in a country where 3-6 000 earthquakes happened every year I would like to calm you down, explaining what is happening with older and younger constructions,

I know better for my country than Italy,
so at Greece from 1955 we had the first anti-earthquake Norm/law which raised the cost about 10%, and gave better results, but poor statistic (about 1 per 500 000 new build had a chance to fall)
later at 1985 a new code/normen introduced and indeed for me was better than today, but raised the cost to much, and also buildings lost space due to much concrete,
meaning that building the same structure in a non earthquake area, and building it in a high density greek area, the last would cost about 35% more products, and would have about 10% less flat space in the same volume,

1995,
at 1995 due to economy EU brought the EN 1995 or as we know EuroNorm 5 or Eurocode 5,
that code is very dangerous to Greece and all earthquake areas, cause it drops the cost and the need for material about 10% that needed before,,
so at Greece EN 1995 was accepted as method, but we change the fractors and this raises again cost and material need of a building about 40% than if this was build anywhere else outside a high earthquake zone,
in fact that was a strong debate among European corporations and Greek engineers, and I remember the efforts that 2 of proffessors did.

Today with change of EN 1995 fractors, if the building is correct, statistically 1 per 4 000 000 houses will drop, if the age of the building is less than 30 years old
that has to do with a capacity/nature/ability of reignforced concrete that is called ερπυσμος, concrete creep.
a beton arme building must have a 90 years life, after that time are dangerous,

Notice that most building that are in danger or have been serious damaged, are from 1700 and after, and especially after 1850 at Europe, dates that architecture changed the old techniques, with modern and lighter,
yet modern after WW2 are according the date, the history (how many earthquakes had suffered) and the Code/Normen under which they were build,
so a modern buildig if it is build according EN 1995 and using the correct Fractors according the density of the country and zone is very rare to collapse even after 2 earthquakes, a possibility that drops every 30 years, and is unknown after 90 years,
surely it needs to arm it again with many methods that are in use after the age of 70 until 105 years old, if not done, it is like an armed bomb.

The strange is that many previous buildings, even from antique and older, survived tenths or hundrends of earthquakes,
that has to do that at these times all structures were not monolithic structures, but structures modulaire,
structures modulaire, due to their ability not to absorve high density M (bending moments, flexion) show better behavour at earthquake, but collapse as liquid material when they are over, sometimes even by their own weighth,
That is why many buildings older show tremendous annexation to ΕΓΚΕΛΑΔΟΣ Enceladus,

anyway, many groups from Greece already are in Italy at Amatrice to study the aftermath,
and the local group of helping at high disasters with their famous dogs are waiting from Italian authorities to ask help, so to go to Rieti
but it seems Italy already manage this, and does not need any,

anyway, I do not believe that Italian civil enginneers are afraid of earthquake so not to build nuclear plants,
I know that Italy has quite good enginneers, to build an anti-earthquake αντισεισμικη structure.

Japan,
Japan is the first country with earthquake activity, yet as engineers count it, an acceleration (fractor a) of about 0,5g (4,9 m/sec) did not harm the Fukusima powerplant,
I do not know how much fracter a was at Amatrice, or how much have been measured at Italy, but I am certain that are areas with soil that can reduse fractor a, away from rocks,
which were once considered good substractum for foundation of a building, but today are considered bad anti-earthquake behavour,
Fukushima disaster came from the lonely wave (port wave or tsunami as known commonly) that was produced by the earthquake.
 
anyway, I do not believe that Italian civil enginneers are afraid of earthquake so not to build nuclear plants,
I know that Italy has quite good enginneers, to build an anti-earthquake αντισεισμικη structure.

Like Japanese...
 
Boreas, you took the words right out of my mouth! :)

I was just about to post the following:
That may be, Yetos, but the general public in Italy is afraid of going nuclear, and part of the reason is precisely because we get so many earthquakes. It was voted down over and over again.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_Italy#1987_Referendum

I'm not persuaded that reactors can be made earthquake proof; just look at what happened in Japan.

Also, not all people involved in this industry are as sanguine about it as you are. My brother, who's the smartest man I know, with a Phd from MIT, used to be a nuclear engineer. He stopped working on reactors because he doesn't think they're all that safe, and not just because of things like earthquakes, but because you're always going to have human error, and human error in working with big nuclear reactors could have disastrous consequences.

I wanted to refresh my recollection of the tectonic plates that are putting Italy under such seismic stress, so I may as well share it. You've got the Eurasian plate, the African plate, the Anatolian plate, and the mini Adriatic plate all coming against each other.
Italy_Geology_Faults.jpg


italy.gif




Sometimes it seems as if everywhere I want to go and live, including not just Italy, but California, and Greece, is sitting on an earthquake fault. That, or in hurricane alley in Florida. :) I'm going to have to have a "go bag" no matter where I am!

http://diss.rm.ingv.it/diss/images/MapHome.gif

MapHome.gif
 
Terribly sad, and you never know were and when the next will hit these volatile regions, which happen to be also set in such scenic locations. I can imagine how devastated all those people are loosing lives and possessions. The oldest buildings seem to get the biggest brunt, and not much one can do to make them quake proof i guess :(..................
 
Terribly sad, and you never know were and when the next will hit these volatile regions, which happen to be also set in such scenic locations. I can imagine how devastated all those people are loosing lives and possessions. The oldest buildings seem to get the biggest brunt, and not much one can do to make them quake proof i guess :(..................

How nature can be destructive.

Unfortunately, until scence can find a way for the timely warning, main thing for people is to try, to the extent possible, to take preventive measures.

National Geographic give two articles about earthquakes in Italy and Myanmar:

Earthquakes in Italy, Myanmar Show Power of World’s Fault Lines

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/italy-myanmar-earthquakes-update/


Are the Earthquakes in Myanmar and Italy Related?


http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/science-behind-italy-myanmar-earthquakes-expert-view/

...
Does someone knows whether this year is more (major) earthquakes in our Planet.
 
I would like to express my condolences to the families of victims. It's really a terrible event. For us Albanians, Italy is a country that we love and we have many of our peoples in Italy. Apart from the fact that Italy is a country with high seismic activity, it should be noted that Italy has an extraordinary heritage of medieval architecture. And it is these buildings that do not withstand an earthquake. In this cases, as Italians use to say, pazienza.
 

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