2009 L'Aquila earthquake

2009 L'Aquila earthquake
The local prefecture (a government office) damaged by the earthquake
2009 L'Aquila earthquake is located in Abruzzo
2009 L'Aquila earthquake
2009 L'Aquila earthquake is located in Italy
2009 L'Aquila earthquake
UTC time2009-04-06 01:32:42
ISC event13438018
USGS-ANSSComCat
Local date6 April 2009 (2009-04-06)
Local time03:32 CEST[1]
MagnitudeMw6.3 (GCMT)[2]
Depth9.46 km (5.88 mi)[1]
Epicenter42°20′51″N 13°22′48″E / 42.3476°N 13.3800°E / 42.3476; 13.3800[1]
Areas affectedAbruzzo, Italy
Total damage$16 billion[3]
Max. intensityMMI X (Extreme)[4]
Peak acceleration0.66 g[5]
Peak velocity42.83 cm/s[5]
Casualties308 dead[6]
1,500+ injured[7]
66,000+ homeless[8]

An earthquake occurred in the region of Abruzzo, in central Italy, at 03:32 CEST (01:32 UTC) on 6 April 2009. It was rated 5.8 or 5.9 on the Richter scale and 6.3 on the moment magnitude scale;[9] its epicentre was near L'Aquila, the capital of Abruzzo, which together with surrounding villages suffered the most damage. There were several thousand foreshocks and aftershocks since December 2008, more than thirty of which had a Richter magnitude greater than 3.5.[9]

The earthquake was felt throughout central Italy; 308 people are known to have died,[6] making this the deadliest earthquake to hit Italy since the 1980 Irpinia earthquake. In a subsequent inquiry of the handling of the disaster, seven members of the Italian National Commission for the Forecast and Prevention of Major Risks were accused of giving "inexact, incomplete and contradictory" information about the danger of the tremors prior to the main quake.[10][11] On 22 October 2012, six scientists and one ex-government official were convicted of multiple manslaughter for downplaying the likelihood of a major earthquake six days before it took place. They were each sentenced to six years' imprisonment,[10][11][12] but the verdict was overturned on 10 November 2014.[13] Criticism was also applied to poor building standards that led to the failure of many modern buildings in a known earthquake zone: an official at Italy's Civil Protection Agency, Franco Barberi, said that "in California, an earthquake like this one would not have killed a single person".[14] in April 2022 the reconstruction was at 72% in L'Aquila city and in the region hit by the 2009 earthquake.[15]

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference INGV_location was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ International Seismological Centre. ISC-EHB Bulletin. Thatcham, United Kingdom. [Event 13438018].
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference foxnews was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Gabriele Ameri; Dino Bindi; Francesca Pacor; Fabrizio Galadini (2011). "The 2009 April 6, Mw 6.3, L'Aquila (central Italy) earthquake: finite-fault effects on intensity data". Geophysical Journal International. 186 (2): 837–851. Bibcode:2011GeoJI.186..837A. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.2011.05069.x.
  5. ^ a b "Table 3 Peak ground acceleration (PGA), Velocity (PGV) and Displacement".
  6. ^ a b Alexander D.E. (2010). "The L'Aquila Earthquake of 6 April 2009 and Italian Government Policy on Disaster Response". Journal of Natural Resources Policy Research. 2 (4): 325–342. Bibcode:2010JNRPR...2..325A. doi:10.1080/19390459.2010.511450. S2CID 153641723.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Corriere8Apr was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Pope was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference INGV_upd was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference BBC News was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference LiveScience was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference Italian scientists convicted over earthquake warning was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ "L'Aquila quake: Scientists see convictions overturned". BBC News. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference Italy quake exposes poor building standards was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ L'Aquila earthquake's data & 2 maps of 2022 reconstruction (in Italian)