A 6.6 magnitude earthquake struck Central Italy not far from the town of Norcia shortly before 8 a.m. this morning local time.
The temblor came on the heels of two smaller earthquakes that shook Central Italy earlier this week. In August of this year, towns in Central Italy were severely damaged by a 6.2 magnitude earthquake, which killed nearly 300 persons and virtually destroyed the famous town of Amatrice. Although there have been reports of some serious injuries this morning, no deaths have been reported (as of this posting). Many of the towns affected by the recent seismic events (including this morning’s temblor) had been evacuated in the wake of the August earthquake.
Early accounts of this morning’s earthquake reported that it was 6.5 in magnitude but authorities have updated that figure to 6.6 in the meantime. The earthquake was the largest in Italy since the 1980 earthquake in Campania, which was recorded as 6.9 in magnitude.
The quake was felt as far away as South Tyrol in Northern Italy and Puglia in Southern Italy. Residents of Rome were still “jittery” this afternoon after their homes shook violently, according to social media and mainstream media accounts.
Monica Larner, an American writer living in Rome, reported this morning that “the recent seismic activity that has us all on edge here in Central Italy.”
“The earthquakes are the result of plate compression,” she wrote on her Facebook today. “One plate is pushed under another. That explains why the land near the epicenters had actually fallen by 20 centimeters since the two strong quakes last Wednesday. I’ve copied this passage from the USGS website (www.earthquake.usgs.gov): Geologically, the Apennines is largely an accretionary wedge formed as a consequence of subduction. This region is tectonically and geologically complex, involving both subduction of the Adria micro-plate beneath Eurasia and the Apennines from east to west, continental collision between the Eurasia and Nubia (Africa) plates building the Alpine mountain belt further to the north and the opening of the Tyrrhenian basin to the west.”
