6.2 Quake in Italy

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Dang, not good.

The USGS says it was only 10 km +/- 1.8 km deep.

That's pretty shallow, which means it's the most destructive. Less traveling distance for the seismic waves to dissipate.

Here's why there are earthquakes in Italy, aside from earthquake attributed to volcanism

Map view of Italy. Notice the plate boundary bordering the eastern coastline of Italy.

That means the plate Italy is on is overriding another (African Plate) and that motion between the overriding plate and downward moving plate is causing the earthquakes.

Here it is from side view. The best scenario is if an earthquake had to occur, it'd happen deep down on the plate interaction, but this one happened very shallow. And the waves didn't dissipate as they traveled through the crust and affected the surface, giving a magnitude of 6.2.

fricking climate change

I bet Croatia felt it, as well.

Found more info. People close to the epicenter are reporting in with what they have experienced.

The USGS said they have an intensity of VII.

Magnitude is quantitative, and intensity is qualitative. It ranks the level of destruction versus the actual force of the quake.

Here's the intensity scale:



So at a VII in intensity, they should still be in good shape if their buildings are built to withstand shaking.


ETA: I need to correct that VII to a VIII because that VII is what another place experienced, not the epicenter. Where the 6.2 Mag. earthquake was read was VIII.

So that may mean there's damage to infrastructure that's not well-equipped for shaking.

Damn. I, for some random reason, spent my lunch break wiki'ing volcanos. This is very near Vesuvius.

Have some family in Perugia, no real damage in their immediate vicinity thankfully.

Religion of peace