Characteristics of the strong ground motions from the 6 April 2009 L’Aquila earthquake, Italy

Abstract

An M w 6.25 earthquake occurred on April 6, 2009 at 03:33 a.m. local time, in the Abruzzo region (Central Italy), close to the city of L’Aquila. The earthquake ruptured a North-West (NW)–South-East (SE) oriented normal fault dipping toward the South-West (SW), with the city of L’Aquila lying a few kilometers away on the hanging wall. The main shock has been recorded by fifty-eight accelerometric stations: the highest number of digital recordings ever obtained in Italy for a single earthquake, one of the best-recorded earthquakes with a normal fault mechanism. Very high values of peak ground acceleration (0.3–0.65 g) were observed close to the center of L’Aquila (6 stations at zero JB distance from the fault). The earthquake caused severe loss of lives (299 victims and 1500 injured) and damage (about 18000 unusable buildings) in the epicentral area. In this study we analyze the ground motion characteristics of both the main shock in terms of peak ground acceleration (PGA), peak ground velocity (PGV), and pseudo-acceleration response spectra (5% of damping ratio). In particular, we compare the pseudo-acceleration response spectra for horizontal directions with the EC8 design spectrum and the new Italian building code (NTC08). In order to understand the characteristics of the ground motions induced by L’Aquila earthquake, we also study the source-related effects and site response of the strong motion stations that recorded the seismic sequence. A novel method is used for the analysis of inter-station and site-specific H/V spectral ratios for the main event and for 12 aftershocks.