subject: Italy and its earthquake Zones [print this page] For many of you living outside of Italy it sometimes comes as a suprise to learn of them.. In fact 40 % of Italy is classified as areas of high risk. If you look at a map its in reallity all those areas along the western appenines .. from north to south.. with various cracks heading east west in specific zones.. hence the last few earthwquakes on might well have heard of , L'Aquila,Campobasso,Assisi show that they lay along this very well defined line.Estimates show that in these areas along this north south line both public and private buildings have not be built to approved standards here.
I have pulled together various articles.. mainly to do with the central areas of Italy in order that should anyone be choosing to inform themselves of risk, quantifying that risk or just interested in knowing the geological historical past of this area, the reports , and there are many that informed everyone in positions of power in the Province of L'Aquila for example of the risks of not putting money into securing buildings to enable people to survive in one of the marked four areas of Italy considered to be at highest risk of present and future sesimic problems and quakes on a high scale.
So hopefully with scaremongering and just providing you with articles written over the years you can assess what everyone knows here and make your own decisions.
" La mappa di queste zone fu pubblicata sul Corriere della Sera nel settembre del 1999: vi figuravano l'Appennino Centro-settentrionale tra il Casentino e Citt di Castello (Perugia); l'Arco Calabro settentrionale tra Castrovillari e Cosenza e la Sicilia orientale nella Val di Noto.
Oltre a queste zone venivano indicate probabili lacune nella Costiera adriatica, tra Marche e Romagna e nell'Appennino Centro-meridionale, nel Sannio."
and obviouly the Rieti, L'Aquila,Silmona area was assesed as an area
Sulmona again.. basically what the consensus is that the risk is high but they cannot predict the day.. what is needed is that the local comunes and the provincial regional governments start now to put into effect national laws on building standards ...long ignored there so that when a quake does come buildings, both private and public will not fall and kill the occupants
this is the point, Italy unlike say the US or Japan has a major problem with its history .. it has one.. lots of old buildings.. and over the centuries these have collapsed and been rebuilt many times due to quakes.. but it makes it hard where these villages,towns or cities are built on or near high risk areas to act in a way that they are made secure..
what has often happened in the past.. as in the case of L'Aquila is that the province refuses to accept its geological risk assesment and does not put in place zone 1 seismic regs form the national government and therefore continues to build new without following the national regulations that would ensure peoples safety.. so not even new builds there were to standard unless a private individual with more sense than public administrations and their technicians used their own heads and went beyond the set limits to ensure their own safety and that of their building...
this is all recorded clearly, known long before 6 april 2009 the maps are public knowledge here.. less well known outside, the risks are known its well worth informing yourself i would say
