And in Italy?

Italy, as it is well-known, is a country that is particularly exposed to seismic hazard. The Mediterranean, in fact, is closed between the grip of two giants, Africa and Europe, which are inexorably drawing closer to each other. The contact between the two plates created, in the past, the Alpine chain of mountains, therefore it is evident that the forces that are involved are certainly not negligible. There are important subduction zones, as in the Alpine mountain range, under the plains of the Po river and in a strip that extends from Sicily to the Aegean Sea. The raising of the Apennine mountains, pushed against the Dalmatian coasts, and the presence of numerous zones of intense volcanic activity, are often, but not always, tied to the clashing of the plates of the Mediterranean, making our country (Italy)  a zone of very high risk in which to live. In the past 2000 years, thousands of earthquakes have been recorded, of which at least 150 of great intensity, with over 450,000 victims (equal to 10% of the victims of equally intense  earthquakes worldwide). Only Sardinia and the Salento peninsula are historically “immune” to earthquakes (even though, naturally, they are affected by the earthquakes in other areas). In the Alpine Mountain range, seismicity is relatively low, with the exception of the Trentino, Friuli and Piemonte regions, while all the remaining regions of the Italian peninsula are classified high seismic hazard zones, in particular the Central and Southern parts of Italy, where in the Campania, Basilicata, Calabria ad Sicily regions, approximately 50% of the historical earthquakes have been recorded.

 
Download "Earthquakes" pdf file
Download the junior version pdf file
 

Special reports

From the Multimedia section

Facts