October 23, 1907 Tsunami: Ionian Calabria, Italy

1907, October 23. This earthquake occurred in the small and not very sensitive zone of Gerace-Siderno, on the southeast coast of Calabria. Violent earthquakes connected with the zone are those of 1720 Sep. 12, 1783 July 29, 1784 Oct. 14, and 1806 Oct. 6. At Gerace, the earthquake of 1784 was regarded as stronger than the great earthquake of 1783 Mar. 27.

The earthquake of 1907 occurred during an epoch of comparative calm in the whole of Calabria. It was, however, heralded by five shocks within the Gerace zone, on 1905 Sept. 9 and 26, 1906 Jan. 16, 1907 May 25 and Oct. 23, 9.25 p.m. The disastrous earthquake closely followed the last shock, at 9.28 p.m...

The epicentral area, within which the intensity was 9,

was very small, and included only one town (Ferruzzano), where many houses collapsed almost completely, and 158 persons, or 8% of its population, were killed. How rapidly the intensity declined outwards is evident from the fact that at Bruzzano Zefferio, only 13 miles from Ferruzzano, no houses were ruined and no lives were lost. The total disturbed area was about 41,000 sq miles.

In the central area, the shock lasted from 1O to 12 sec. The movement was continuous throughout, and varied but s1ightly in strength.

Though perfectly calm at the time of the earthquake, the

sea soon afterwards advanced about 130 yd. over the shore, the seawaves being perceptible along the coast for about six miles from Capo Bruzzano to the river Careri. The waves left traces of their passages on the mareograms at Messina and Catania, the record at the former place being interrupted by the stopping of the driving clock at 9.28 p.m. At Catania, the first movements were recorded

at 9.48 p.m., the last at 6 a.m. on Oct. 24. The amplitude of the largest oscillations was about 4 in. As in the earthquake of 1905, the velocity of the seawaves (325 ft. per sec.) was distinctly less than that in a sea of the same mean depth throughout (394 ft. per sec.).

(above from reference #516)

1907, October 23, 21h28m. Calabrian Arc, Calabria, the shore of the Ionian Sea. A destructive earthquake occurred near the mountain ridge of Aspromonte. It was felt throughout Calabria and in the eastern part of Sicily. The sea, which had previously been absolutely calm within the focal area, penetrated deep onto dry land for 30 - 80 m over a distance of 10 - 20 km between Cape Brutzano and the River Careri and then it receded farther than its usual limits. The period of level oscillations was 10 min. (reference #2130)

Strong earthquake occurred in land, about 15 km from the coast. The most damaged village was Ferruzzano. Area with heavy damage quite wide, including S.Ilario Jonico, Bianco, Bovalino, Ardore, S.Luca, Platì, Africo, Brancaleone and Bova. Severe damage suffered by villages in the Ionian coast, from Melito Porto Salvo to Gerace. Felt in the whole Calabria and in eastern Sicily. Number of victims is 167 (158 at Ferruzzano). More than 90 injured.

A tsunami followed the earthquake.

The sea flooded the beach by about 30 m for a stretch of about 10 km, between Capo Bruzzano and Careri River. Then it came back to its usual level (Mercalli, r193; Eredia, r194; Cavasino, r188, Righi (r617).

Tide-gauge records of Messina and Catania were analyzed by Platania (r195).

Further references: Baratta (r55), Alfano (r413), Carrozzo (r41), Caputo (r5), Bedosti (r30), Soloviev (r414, r582), Antonopoulos (r392), Tinti (r9), Boschi (r124).

(reference #4139)