Report on Italy Earthquake (24th August 2016)

On 24 August 2016, a magnitude of 6.2 earthquake hit the Apennines Mountains in central Italy, devastating the small towns of Amartrice, Accumoli and Pescare del Tronto. At least 293 lives were lost. This is the latest in a series of heavy earthquakes to hit Italy in recent years. The country is particularly exposed to earthquakes risk as it is located where continental plates collide and building stock is vulnerable. Yet just over 1% of residential buildings are insured against earthquakes. How can Italy and its residents better prepare for future events? Case Report


Introduction
Seismology is the study of the generation, propagation and recording of elastic waves in the earth, and the sources that produce them (Table 1) [1]. An earthquake is a sudden tremor or movement of the earth's crust, which originates naturally at or below the surface. The word natural is important here, since it excludes shock waves caused by nuclear tests, man-

Geology that causes Italy's spine to quakes
The Earth's shell is divided into several major tectonic   Cause of Earthquake Viz. Plates that caused shaking on Wednesday, 24 th August, 2016 The powerful earthquake ripped through central Italy on Wednesday, killing hundreds and leaving thousands homeless. The 6.2 magnitude earthquake has killed at least 241 people, the country's civil protection agency said on Thursday morning after rescue efforts continued through the night. The central Apennines is one of the most seismically active areas in Italy. The Apennines mountain belt were formed in the Miocene to Pliocene as a result of the ongoing subduction of the Adriatic Plate beneath the Eurasian Plate, forming a fold and thrust belt. During the Quaternary, thrust tectonics gave way to extensional tectonics, with the development of a zone of normal faulting running along the crest of the mountain range. The extension is a result of either subduction rollback or the opening of the Tyrrhenian Sea. In the Central Apennines the zone of extension is about 30 km wide, closely matching the zone of observed extensional strain as shown by GPS measurements. Recent large earthquakes in this area have been caused by movement on SW-dipping normal faults ( Figure 3).

Reason behind confl ict regarding magnitude of earthquake
The earthquake was initially reported by INGV to have

Shortcomings in seismic design concepts that led to such devastation [3]
Italy is a developed country; it has a long history of earthquakes and a network. The real culprit is poor commitment to building hardened infrastructure. A large portion of the country's buildings date to the decades after World War II, when the population was booming, but construction codes didn't yet account for seismic hazards. While laws were updated in the 1970s, many of them have been ignored, even for hospitals and schools. Recently constructed buildings often fail disproportionately when the ground starts shaking.
Major example supporting the above statement is a school building that promised to withstand powerful earthquakes after a 700,000-euro upgrade just four years ago has been left in ruins in central Italy, while a 13th century church bell tower managed to withstand the shock. The Romolo Capranica School in Amatrice was supposed to have been quake-proofed but completely collapsed on Wednesday when a catastrophic 6.2-magnitude quake struck at 3.30am local time. That was in sharp contrast to the oldest building in the town, the 13thcentury Civic Tower, which was still standing on Thursday, despite having been shaken suffi ciently to detach its bell from its fastenings (Figure 4).

Role of italian national agency for new technologies, energy and sustainable economic developmet (ENEA) to counter seismic hazards [4]
Italy is one of the leading countries in the world for number of seismic isolated structures -it ranks fi fth after much more densely populated countries such as Japan, China, Russia, the

Modern methods adopted to make buildings and Infrastructures resistant to earthquakes [5]
As of today, there are mainly three ways: the conventional method consists in making the structure strong enough to be able to withstand the strongest earthquake which is likely to occur at its site, another envisages the application of seismic isolation devices dramatically reducing the seismic forces The experts point out, however, that in order to ensure real life-saving protection and avoid the risk of making the structure less safe than it was originally, seismic systems must be correctly designed and installed and this is particularly true