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2.7
light
EARTHQUAKE DETAILS

Mar Ionio Meridionale [Mare]

14 days ago · 11 Aug, 09:45

A light earthquake, rarely felt by people. Being deep, it is felt less at the surface.

Stronger than 97% of Italian events in the past year

Where

Mar Ionio Meridionale [Mare]Earthquakes in the province of Reggio CalabriaEarthquakes in Calabria

Epicentre at sea

The epicentre is at sea: for the same magnitude, the shaking is felt less on land, because the energy fades along the way before reaching the coast.

How far away could it be felt?

A quake this small is usually not felt by people: only seismographs record it.

Statistical estimate from the Italian intensity attenuation model (INGV): actual perception depends on geology, buildings and depth. Very shallow events can be felt locally even below the threshold.

Earthquake map

1 events
Magnitude:lightweakmoderatestrong

The energy released

How much energy this quake unleashed, translated into everyday comparisons.

169kgof TNT equivalent
Less than the energy of a lightning bolt
M3
A magnitude 3 earthquake releases ×2.8 its energy
M2this quakeM4

Each extra magnitude unit releases about 32 times more energy: an M5 is not "a bit stronger" than an M4 — it is a different league.

Energy estimated with the standard Gutenberg–Richter relation; an average lightning bolt ≈ 1 billion joules. Indicative values.

How deep it was born

54 km
deep
6.1 times the height of Mount Everest

Being deep, it is felt less at the surface.

For the same magnitude, a shallow earthquake is felt much more than a deep one: the energy starts closer to the surface.

What kind of quake is this?

Isolated quake

In the 30 days around this event no other quakes were recorded within 30 km: a one-off episode, very common in Italy.

Activity in the area right now (30 km radius)
0
last 24 hours
0
last 7 days
1
last 30 days

No other quakes within 30 km in the 30 days around the event.

How often does it happen here?

about every ~5.8 years

Within 50 km of this epicentre, a magnitude ≥ 2.5 earthquake has occurred on average this often: 2 events in the last 12 years of the INGV catalogue.

An average computed on the recent past: it tells how used this area is to shaking, not when the next quake will come — earthquakes cannot be predicted.

The great earthquakes in this area's history

Almost a thousand years of catalogues: the strongest documented events within ~50 km.

19685.4
Ionio settentrionale earthquake
12 February 1968 · 18 km from here
20015.4
Ionio settentrionale earthquake
19 May 2001 · 35 km from here
20084.7
Ionio meridionale earthquake
21 February 2008 · 8 km from here
20094.4
Ionio meridionale earthquake
1 November 2009 · 22 km from here

Source: Parametric Catalogue of Italian Earthquakes CPTI15 (INGV, CC BY 4.0).

The closest seismic structure

Calabria offshore NE

The epicentre lies about 12 km from Calabria offshore NE, one of the seismic structures mapped by INGV geologists.

estimated maximum magnitude 7.4between 4 and 9 km deep

Faults are mapped to build better and understand the territory: knowing them says nothing about when an earthquake will occur, which remains unpredictable. Source: DISS 3.3 (INGV, CC BY 4.0).

Data: INGV — National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (CC-BY 4.0)

Estimates computed by Meteare on INGV data (Gutenberg–Richter relation; Italian macroseismic intensity attenuation model).

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