Posted on 04/05/2009 7:05:27 PM PDT by BlownChevelle
ROME (Reuters) - A 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck central Italy Monday about 53 miles northeast of Rome, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
A Reuters correspondent in Rome said he and his family had been woken by the quake.
No other details were immediately available.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
This isn’t good; abstract of a scientific paper from 2005; looks like L’Aquila is one of those soft-ground locations that have amplified seismic effects:
http://bssa.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/95/4/1469
Recent accelerometric recordings of earthquakes with moderate and intermediate magnitude (4.0 < ML < 5.9), at both local and regional distances, show a significant ground-motion amplification effect at low frequencies (0.6 Hz) in the city of L’Aquila (central Italy). The effect involves very long durations characterized by low frequencies in the coda.
Starting from these observations, a series of supplementary investigations was performed in the urban area of L’Aquila by collecting and analyzing both weak-motion data from earthquakes with magnitudes ranging from 2.2 to 4.9 at distances from 20 to 105 km and ambient noise data.
All the collected weak-motion data share the same characteristics as the strong-motion records and give a better image of the amplification effect in the city. In order to interpret observations in terms of the local geology, we performed 2D numerical modeling of the sedimentary basin underlying the city of L’Aquila using both finite elements and boundary elements based on a geological section derived from gravity measurements.
This analysis indicates that the ground-motion amplification in the city of L’Aquila is related to the presence of a sedimentary basin, filled by lacustrine sediments, with a maximum depth of about 250 m.
6.7 isn’t small... But 53 miles means Rome was not at the epicenter. On the other hand, you’ve got to believe that there were a fair number of people who were at the epicenter, given the population density in that area.
Geology ping.
I suspect this will end up in breaking news.
"I am not happy with the Catholic Church inviting such a proponent of abortion being honored at a Catholic University named after the mother Jesus. What do I have to next?"Please note: I did this because Obama's visit to Europe to emphasize that I am not happy!
"Sodom and Gomorah eventually got the message (too late, of course)".
One must realize that the unborn and the blood of the unborn being murdered by abortion cry out for justice!
What was the name of the guy who owned lots of abortion clinics and had the plane he own crash into a cemetery.
Oh, that's right -- Feldkamp...
That’s a pretty substantial quake. Not good...
1. Wouldn’t it have been a more efficient message for God to put this quake in South Bend, Indiana than Italy?
2. Given that L’Aquila has apparently been destroyed by earthquakes three times in the last 700 years, I don’t think an explanation for the quake other than the continued movement of the Italy microplate north into Europe is necessary.
Here's some irony for you - my son, a third-year architecture student at the University of Notre Dame, is living in Rome. All architecture students spend their third school year there, and he's due home in a month. We just talked to him this evening, in fact, apparently a few hours before the earthquake.
I'm not sure how it all ties in, tho. :)
Fortunately Rome seems to have had very light shaking. L’Aquila is a University town, though, but it’s apparently quite a bit off the beaten path.
LOL - a gurl after my own heart!
Did the Pope ask for a sign and God responded?
Barack goes to Europe and there's an earthquake.
he went to Hawaii and there was a color(black)-out
Yellowstone had a fit, One State froze, another nearly flooded......
the kenyan needs to step down
ping
Based on previous simular quakes in Italy, the death toll will probably at least be in the hundreds, at least.
Weird how something this bad in a Western European country can get so little media coverage, but I guess because it’s night, all the journalists are in Rome, and the damage is probably so bad communications are down it’s not getting much attention.
Also I think people have lost sight of how bad a really shallow 6.3 can be right under a city that’s built on an old lakebed.
You toooooooooooooooo
silly rabbit?
Oh Dear!
Works for me!
Likely with some old bricks etc. with little to no reinforcing etc.???
"File picture of a seismograph. A strong earthquake shook central Italy on Monday, causing buildings to collapse in the old town of Aquila in the Abruzzo region, the ANSA news agency reported." (AFP/File)
(Looks a little like a nuclear test when viewed left to right.)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.