On the night between 5 and 6 April 2009, at 3:32 a.m., a magnitude 5.8 quake on the Richter Scale (Mw 6.3) hit the capital of Abruzzo causing serious damage to nearby cities. The L’Aquila earthquake of 6 April 2009 is considered one of the most devastating earthquakes in contemporary history.
The L’Aquila earthquake of April 6, 2009.
The 2009 L’Aquila earthquake is considered one of the most massive earthquakes in contemporary history, due to the extent of the damage caused to affected cities. A series of seismic events, which began in December 2008 and ended in 2012, had epicentres in the entire area of the city, the L’Aquila basin and part of the province of L’Aquila (lower Valle dell’Aterno, Monti della Laga and Monti dell’Alto Aterno).
The main shock, which occurred on 6 April 2009 at 3:32 a.m., with a moment magnitude (Mw) of 6.3, with epicentre in the area between the hamlets of Roio Colle, Genzano di Sassa and Collefracido (Colle Miruci locality in Roio), affected a large part of the territory straddling Central and Southern Italy.
In the 48 hours after the main shock and in the following days, 256 shocks or aftershocks were recorded, more than 150 of which on Tuesday 7 April, including 56 over a magnitude of 3.0. Three shocks of magnitude greater than 5.0 occurred on 6, 7 and 9 April. From an examination of the signals of the NIGV’s station in L’Aquila (AQU, located in the basement of the Spanish Fort) over 10,000 shocks were counted. The earthquake swarm following the main event of 6 April then moved to nearby areas to the north-west of the city and in general to the L’Aquila basin (Pizzoli, Campotosto and Montereale).
Another magnitude 4.7 event occurred at 10:58 p.m. on 22 June, with epicentre near the town of Pizzoli, 11 km from L’Aquila.
What effects and damage were caused by the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake?
In light of the damage and victims, the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake is the fifth most destructive earthquake in Italy in contemporary times, after the Messina earthquake of 1908, the Avezzano earthquake of 1915, the Friuli earthquake of 1976 and the Irpinia earthquake of 1980.
The earthquake was felt over a large area, including all of Central Italy, as far as Naples, causing panic among the population. Among the most affected regions was Abruzzo, followed by Lazio, although some slight damage was found up to the area of Ascoli Piceno, in Marche region. Since the earthquake directly affected a city and not a rural area, according to estimates sent by the Italian Government to the European Commission to gain access to the European Solidarity Fund, the damage amounted to about 10,212 billion euros.
The final death toll was 309, with more than 1,600 injured. Luckily, many people were pulled alive from the rubble, even many hours after the main shock.
The earthquake completely destroyed many buildings, including the headquarters of the L’Aquila Prefecture, which was supposed to be the rescue coordination centre, and the Student House, where eight university students died.
In addition to the Prefecture, among the most important buildings that collapsed or had been badly damaged in the city are the dome of the Church of the Holy Souls, the apse and transept of the Cathedral and the Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio, part of the Student House, the Department of Literature and History and the Engineering and Economics Pole of the University of L’Aquila near Roio and the Duca degli Abruzzi hotel. The place that was hardest hit, excluding the historic centre of L’Aquila, was Via XX Settembre, geomorphologically damaged, and the area of Villa Comunale where many homes were declared unfit for use.
The earthquake also caused considerable damage to the historical and artistic heritage, the city of L’Aquila was particularly rich in. All the churches (more than a hundred), starting from the most important basilicas, were immediately declared inaccessible, due to damage or major collapses, along with historic buildings in the historic centre, including the Spanish Fort, one of the city’s symbols.
The Student House after the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake
What actions have been taken to support the affected populations and what reconstruction works have been carried out since the L’Aquila earthquake of 6 April 2009?
Immediately after the event, there was a considerable deployment of police forces, air and ground rescue vehicles of fire-fighters, civil protection, the army, the Navy and the Air Force. The phases of the emergency were divided into a preliminary phase, consisting of preliminary relief efforts and subsequent aid to those affected, one phase consisting of the construction and management of tent cities and one of the construction of temporary houses with regard to the housing emergency and finally that of making damaged buildings safe and reconstruction afterwards. Right after the first and second phases of the emergency, for safety reasons the Civil Protection prohibited pedestrian traffic in several areas affected by the earthquake, from the historic centre of L’Aquila to nearby centres most affected, labelling them as the “red zone”.
As of 9 August 2009, according to the Civil Protection, there were 48,818 displaced people, 19,973 who were in 137 tent cities (in 5,029 tents), 19,149 in hotels and 9,696 in private homes. In addition, 273 people stayed in 9 spontaneous camps. What is more, 4,764 people found accommodation at the project called Sustainable and Eco-friendly Earthquake-resistant Complexes and 480 in Temporary Housing Modules.
In the face of this emergency, the government made available a subsidy for autonomous accommodation for those who had lost their homes, as well as an unemployment subsidy for those who lost their job. As a further countermeasure, the inhabitants of the affected area did not have to pay taxes, as provided for in the government’s intervention and reconstruction plan and as it happened before when other earthquakes struck the country. Efforts were made to revive the local economy by relying as much as possible on local companies and cooperatives for the supply of goods and services useful for reconstruction.
In addition, the Abruzzo decree was approved, for which measures were envisaged to deal with the emergency caused by the earthquake, including suspension of social security payments, welfare and insurance premiums, a monthly check of up to 400 euros for displaced families and suspension of payment of telephone, water, electricity and gas bills for 2 months.
Reconstruction works There was no shortage of problems related to reconstruction, from the initial problem of removing and disposing of a million tons of rubble, to the subsequent housing emergency. Many public and historical buildings, but also private ones, have been rebuilt and have made it possible to restore a good part of the cultural heritage of L’Aquila. However, there are still many ruins in the city. Of the 247 interventions planned by the Regional Secretariat for Cultural Heritage, just under one half have so far been completed, compared to 116 not yet started and 19 in progress.
Solidarity actions
Plenty of solidarity actions have been taken towards the populations affected by the earthquake. Many Italian companies offered their help in various ways. All Italian mobile phone companies gave free minutes of phone calls and top-ups to all their customers in Abruzzo, and extended their coverage with additional reception stations to serve the tent cities. In addition, some companies adopted one nationwide number to collect donations from people calling or sending an SMS. Other companies decided to suspend the payment of bills for all Abruzzo customers. The FS, the state railway company, made available some sleeping cars to the homeless and free tickets for all inhabitants and students in Abruzzo. The AISCAT (Associazione Italiana Società Concessionarie Autostrade e Trafori) declared that it had abolished the toll on all Abruzzo roads. On 19 April 2009, the CEI promoted a collection in all Italian parishes, to be allocated to the Caritas for earthquake relief (27 million euros was raised on that occasion). There was also a lot of international aid.
Every year, at the same time that the 2009 earthquake devastated the city of L’Aquila, killing 309, bells are rung as many times to remember the 309 who lost their lives because of the earthquake. In addition, every 6th April, a long torchlight procession is held to remember the victims.
As the earthquake branch of the NIGV reports, the studies on the 2009 earthquake, followed by those on the seismic sequence of Central Italy, have allowed us to understand many details of the seismogenic processes and the danger of the Apennines.
Remembering events such as the L’Aquila earthquake is a must to understand the importance of preventing earthquake damage and antiseismic culture. Because safe reconstructions and improvements, earthquake-resistant reinforcements and technologies are the key to preventing these tragedies from happening again when the next earthquake strikes and to protecting buildings, homes and their occupants.
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