2012 Northern Italy earthquakes
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| Date | 20–29 May 2012 |
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| Epicenter | 44°54′N 11°14′E / 44.9°N 11.24°ECoordinates: 44°54′N 11°14′E / 44.9°N 11.24°E |
| Type | Thrust |
| Areas affected | Emilia-Romagna, Italy |
| Max. intensity | VII (Very strong) |
| Casualties | 27 dead (7 on 20 May and 20 on 29 May), at least 50 injured in the first quake and 350 in the second, up to 45,000 homeless in total |
| Greatest magnitude | 6.1 Mw |
| Mean depth | 5.6 km (3.5 mi) |
In May 2012, two major earthquakes occurred in Northern Italy, causing 27 deaths and widespread damage.
The first earthquake, registering magnitude 6.1, struck in the Emilia-Romagna region, about 36 kilometres (22 mi) north of the city of Bologna, on 20 May at 04:03 local time (02:03 UTC). The epicentre was between Finale Emilia, Bondeno and Sermide. Two aftershocks of magnitude 5.2 occurred, one approximately an hour after the main event and another approximately eleven hours after the main event. Seven people were killed.
A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck the same area nine days later, on 29 May, causing an additional twenty deaths and widespread damage, particularly to buildings already weakened by the 20 May earthquake. The epicentre was in Medolla: the quake itself occurred at a depth of about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi)
The Po Plain, a foreland basin formed by the downflexing of the crust by the loading of the Apennine thrust sheets, overlies and mainly conceals the active front of the Northern Apennines fold and thrust belt, across which there is about one millimeter (0.04 in) per year of active shortening at present. Information from hydrocarbon exploration demonstrates that the area is underlain by a series of active thrust faults and related folds, some of which have been detected from anomalous drainage patterns. These blind thrust faults are roughly WNW-ESE trending, parallel to the mountain front, and dip shallowly towards the south-southwest. Several damaging historical earthquakes, such as the 1570 Ferrara earthquake, have occurred in the area.
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