Earthquakes in Samarate
Seismic activity in the surroundings
30 km radiusINGV catalogue epicentres of the last ~12 years, within the given radius from the town centre.
How seismic is this area?
The quietest class: the probability of strong earthquakes is very low.
Official Civil Protection classification (upd. 2025), used for building codes.
Hazard describes the long-term expected shaking: it is not a forecast. Technical value: ag = 0.038 g (10% probability of exceedance in 50 years, rigid soil).
Why the ground rarely shakes here
Samarate sits in one of the most stable areas of Italy: far from the boundary between the Eurasian and African plates, on ancient, rigid crust that hardly accumulates tectonic stress any more.
That is why earthquakes here are rare and almost always weak: a small geological privilege.
The “area” is Samarate plus nearby towns.
The seismic history of Samarate
The earthquakes that were actually felt in Samarate over the centuries, with the intensity observed on site (Mercalli MCS scale).
- 2000III21 August 2000
Light: felt by few people, like a passing truck.
Monferrato earthquake (M4.9), epicentre 85 km away
Source: Italian Macroseismic Database DBMI15 (INGV, CC BY 4.0).
The great earthquakes in this area's history
Almost a thousand years of catalogues: the strongest documented events within ~50 km.
Source: Parametric Catalogue of Italian Earthquakes CPTI15 (INGV, CC BY 4.0).
The closest seismic structure
The town lies about 43 km from Western S-Alps external thrust shallow-west, one of the seismic structures mapped by INGV geologists.
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).
Area over time
Earthquake map
1 eventsEarthquakes in the area
Nearby towns
How does it compare with the surroundings?
Samarate is among the quietest towns of its province: very few epicentres are recorded here.
Each quake is attributed to the town closest to its epicentre: the numbers describe the area, not the municipal territory alone.
Context
Province of Varese0 events · 30gLombardy region11 events · 30gFrequently asked questions
Were there earthquakes today in Samarate?
No, no quakes were recorded today in the Samarate area: the latest nearby dates back to 139 months ago.
Is Samarate a seismic area?
Samarate is classified in seismic zone 4 by the Civil Protection. The quietest class: the probability of strong earthquakes is very low.
What was the strongest earthquake near Samarate?
In the last ~12 years of INGV data, the strongest within 30 km of Samarate was magnitude 2.6, in 2019.
When was the last quake near Samarate?
The last quake recorded within 30 km of Samarate was 20 months ago.
Tip. Click a nearby town to explore its seismicity.
Data: INGV — National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (CC-BY 4.0)