October 30, 2016 Earthquake: Norcia, Italy

Two people died from heart attacks, 20 injured and 100,000 homeless; the village of Arquata del Tronto and the Basilica di San Benedetto in Norcia were destroyed; many buildings damaged; power outages occurred and water service disrupted; landslides damaged several roads blocking access in the Norcia area. Felt (VII) at Ascoli Piceno and (VI) at Civitanova Marche, L'Aquila, Nocciano, Recanati and Terni. Felt throughout central and northern Italy, in San Marino and (IV) in Vatican City. Felt in parts of Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Slovenia and Switzerland. Preliminary studies by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia indicate that at least 15km of fault scarps were observed in the Monte Vettore area between Arquata del Tronto and Ussita, with about 50cm of offset observed in the Monte Bove Sud area. Pioraco, Marken, Italy - CDI: 9; Norcia, Umbria, Italy - CDI: 9; Camerino, Marken, Italy - CDI: 8; Montefalcone Appennino, Marken, Italy - CDI: 8; Servigliano, Marken, Italy - CDI: 7

The October 30, 2016 M 6.6 earthquake north of Norcia, Italy, occurred as the result of shallow normal faulting on a NW-SE oriented fault in the Central Apennines. The Apennines is a mountain range that runs from the Gulf of Taranto in the south to the southern edge of the Po basin in northern Italy. Geologically, the Apennines is largely an accretionary wedge formed as a consequence of subduction. The October 30, 2016 normal faulting earthquake is an intraplate event, an expression of the east-west extensional tectonics that now dominate along the Apennine belt. The October 30, 2016 event is the largest event in an on-going sequence of damaging earthquakes that include:

- the August 24, 2016, M 6.2 central Italy (Amatrice) earthquake which caused approximately 300 fatalities, and severely damaged the town of Amatrice.

- The October 26, 2016, M 6.1 central Italy earthquake, which, at the time of writing, is not known to have caused any fatalities. This M 6.1 event was preceded by several hours by a M 5.5 earthquake.

The October 30, M 6.6 event is between the two prior largest earthquakes, approximately 10 km southeast of the October 26, M 6.1 event. While related to the previous seismicity, the larger size of this earthquake implies it has ruptured an independent fault patch that had not slipped as part of preceding earthquakes.

(above from ref #13456)

There were no reported fatalities in the wake of the quake on Sunday, although it was even more powerful than the 2009 earthquake that hit L'Aquila, killing more than 300 people, and worse than the August earthquake that killed hundreds in Amatrice. There were about a dozen injuries, with one person described as being in serious condition.

Residents in Visso, a town of 1,107 in Marche, told Sky TV that their homes "are no longer there".

While there was relative relief that the area was spared mass casualties, there were other losses that were devastating. Centuries-old structures, including the cathedral and basilica of San Benedetto in Norcia, a 14th century church that was built to honor the patron saint of Europe, Saint Benedict, was reduced to rubble, as was a tower and St Augustine church in Amatrice.

(above from ref #11619)

The 30 October main shock crushed definitely all the villages of the epicentral area, extending northward the level of destruction and inducing heavy damage even to the 30 km far Camerino town. (ref #12075)

13.121, 42.835 (long, lat). 7.32 (Depth). Mw 6.5, 30 October 2016 06:40:17 UTC. (ref #12076)

200,000,000 USD in damages, probably combined with event on 26 Oct 2016.(ref #1250)

7.4 billion USD in economic losses (reference #13727)