Abstract
<p>Here we describe the macroseismic survey of the 24 August 2016 earthquake in central Italy (M_W 6.2). By applying a revised version of the Mercalli-Cancani-Sieberg scale, we estimated the site intensity in more than 300 localities of Lazio, Abruzzi, Umbria and Marche regions, providing the Civil Protection with a quick and robust snapshot of the earthquake. The most severe effects are focused south of the instrumental epicenter, in the Amatrice intermountain basin, where intensity reached 10-11 MCS. Highest damage (area inside 9 MCS isoseismal) is focused in a NNW-SSE belt of the hangingwall of the causative faults, i.e. the southern segment of the Mount Vettore fault system and the northern segment of the Laga Mounts fault system, with northward damage propagation in the far-field. The intensity dataset allows to evaluate a M_W 6.16±0.5, which is very close to the instrumental magnitude, with a seismogenic box striking N161°, mimicking the geological active faults. Epicentral intensity is I_0 10 MCS, I_MAX 10-11. The elevated level of destruction is mainly due to the high vulnerability of buildings, mostly made by cobblestone masonry. Integrating the macroseismic information with the geological, geodetical and geophysical data it is possible to hypothesize a bidirectional rupture propagation (toward NNW and SSE) along the two different faults. It is also possible to attribute the 1639, M_W 6.0 earthquake to the same source of the southern 2016 rupture (northernmost Laga Mounts faults).</p>
Highlights
In the night of 24 August 2016, at 3:36 local time, a unexpected earthquake hit the boundary area of four Regions of central Italy (Lazio, Abruzzi, Marche and Umbria), rocking dozens of villages and burying under the rubbles hundreds of unaware, sleeping people
Before the end of September 2016, the teams from the DPC and INGV visited more than 300 localities within 76 municipalities of the Provinces of Rieti (Lazio), Perugia (Umbria), Teramo and L'Aquila (Abruzzi), Ascoli Piceno, Macerata and Fermo (Marche), and assessed the site intensity (Is) applying the Mercalli-CancaniSieberg (MCS) scale [Sieberg, 1930]
We applied the MCS scale [Sieberg 1930] for the macroseismic survey of more than 300 localities belonging to 76 municipalities in the Provinces of Rieti (Lazio), Perugia (Umbria), Teramo and L'Aquila (Abruzzi), Ascoli Piceno, Macerata and Fermo (Marche) using the methodology proposed by Molin [2009]
Summary
In the night of 24 August 2016, at 3:36 local time, a unexpected earthquake hit the boundary area of four Regions of central Italy (Lazio, Abruzzi, Marche and Umbria), rocking dozens of villages and burying under the rubbles hundreds of unaware, sleeping people. 8 km, and it was shortly followed by a foreshock (MW 5.5) localized 10 km away, in the Norcia area (Umbria Region) Both these events were clearly felt in Rome, which is some 100 km far away, while the damage induced to the buildings estate extended up to 40 km to the north. Starting from 1997 Umbria-Marche event (MW 6.0), just a few hours after every strong earthquake in Italy, different teams of experts from the Dipartimento della Protezione Civile (DPC), and from the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) are dispatched to the epicentral area in order to launch the macroseismic survey. Suffice to say that almost all villages surveyed during AugustSeptember suffered further damage, making new field work necessary
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