February 7, 1783 Earthquake: Messina Straits, Italy

On Feb. 7, 1783, two violent earthquakes occurred, one at about 2.5 p.m. and the other at about 3.45 p.m. By all the writers of the time, they were regarded as one and the same earthquake, though Pignataro noticed the discrepancy in the times, while Dolomieu remarked that the earthquake of Feb. 7 was felt the most at Messina and Soriano, places very distant from each other. They are, in fact, 47 miles apart; whilst it was mostly less violent in all the intermediate country. It was reserved for Mercalli, in 1897, to point out that there were in reality two great earthquakes on this day, the earlier, a disastrous shock, with its center near Soriano [38.6 N, 16.23 E], the later, a ruinous shock, with its center near Reggio and Messina [38.18 N, 15.57 E].

The shock [15hr] was felt with greater force at Messina and Reggio. At Messina, according to A. Gallo, until midnight on Feb. 6, not a quarter of an hour passed without shocks. On Feb. 7, the shocks became less frequent, until, at 3.45 p.m., "there burst out at once the terrible noise and gave the last shake to the already destroyed Messina." In this earthquake, more than in the preceding shocks, there was a combination of all the movements--undulatory, sussultory, and vorticose-so that people were not able to stand upright and very many buildings fell. How far to the north of the straits the shock would have possessed

destructive power is unknown, for but few houses were

left standing in the Plain of Calabria. It seems probable, however, that the epicenter was farther to the south than that of the earthquake of Feb. 5, and not far from the Straits of Messina.

(above from reference #516)

February 7, 1783, 15hr, Messina, 38 deg 12 min N, 15 deg 33 min E, intensity IX. (reference #1075)