Italy earthquakes

M6.0 earthquake 34 km NNE of Santa Flavia, Italy

A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck 34 km NNE of Santa Flavia, Italy on Fri, Sep 6, 2002, 3:21 AM GMT+2 (01:21 UTC), 5 km (3 mi) below the surface.

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Map

Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.

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The earthquake

Magnitude: 6.0 (Mwc, centroid moment), strong
Magnitude from: USGS National Earthquake Information Center
Local time: Fri, Sep 6, 2002, 3:21 AM GMT+2
UTC: 2002-09-06 01:21:28 UTC
Depth: 5.0 km (3.1 mi), shallow
Epicenter: 38.381° N, 13.701° E
Region: Italy
Strongest shaking: V, moderate shaking
Tsunami flag: No
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

Magnitude estimates

Different scales measure different things and differ by a few tenths. The USGS marks one as preferred, and it is the one this page uses.

Mag.	Scale	Computed by	Notes
6.0	Mwc, centroid moment	USGS National Earthquake Information Center	Preferred · Reviewed
5.93	Mw, moment	ISC-GEM global catalog	Final · ±0.1
5.9	Mwc, centroid moment	Global CMT project	Preliminary
5.83	Me, energy	Choy, USGS energy magnitude	Reviewed

Deaths and damage

From NOAA NCEI’s Significant Earthquake Database (record 5648), matched to this event by time and place.

Deaths: 2
Injuries: 20
Damage: $500 million
Houses damaged: Some (about 51 to 100)

Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.

NOAA’s full record of this earthquake

What happened

The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.

Two people died from heart attacks, twenty injured and several buildings damaged in the Palermo area. Also felt at Agrigento, Caltanissetta, Catania, Enna, Messina and Trapani.

From the USGS event page for usp000bbb2. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.

Shaking

The USGS ShakeMap: shaking estimated from seismic stations and the quake’s size, on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale.

Strongest estimated: V, moderate shaking
Peak ground acceleration: 7.9% of gravity
Peak ground velocity: 1.7 cm/s
Map: Automatic

USGS ShakeMap: estimated shaking intensity around the epicenter — Estimated shaking intensity. Map: USGS ShakeMap.

Did you feel it?

No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.

Fault motion and ground failure

How the rock slipped, from the moment tensor, and the USGS estimate of landslides and liquefaction.

Faulting: Oblique reverse
Nodal plane 1: Strike 26°, dip 50°, rake 40°
Nodal plane 2: Strike 267°, dip 60°, rake 133°

How well it is located

Reviewed by a seismologist.

Depth from: OPERATOR_ASSIGNED
Stations used: 528

Nearest places

Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.

Nearby

Within 100 km, magnitude 3.0 and up: 85 in the 60 days after this one and 1 in the 30 days before it.

After

The first 60 of 85.

Before

3.120 km SW of Pianoconte, ItalyThu, Aug 22, 7:34 AM GMT+2 · 8810 days ago · 228 km deep · 90 km away

Earthquakes today Italy earthquakes Live radar here

Sources

From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp000bbb2 (also filed as choy20020906012128, gcmtb090602a, gcmt20020906012128, iscgem3361579, atlas20020906012129). Read Mon, Oct 5, 2026, 12:10 PM UTC.