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EARTHQUAKES

Trains delayed in southern Italy after 4.3-magnitude earthquake shakes Calabria

No major damage was reported after an earthquake was felt across much of the southern Italian region of Calabria on Thursday.

Published: 20 January 2022 12:16 CET
A view of the coast from the town of Riace in Calabria.
A view of the coast from the town of Riace in Calabria. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli

Calabria was hit by a 4.3-magnitude earthquake on Thursday morning, the National Institute of Geology and Volcanology (INGV) has confirmed.

The earthquake was felt most strongly on the south-western Calabrian coast, affecting Catanzaro, Vibo Valentia, Reggio di Calabria, at 10.19am on Thursday, the institute said.

READ ALSO: Which areas of Italy have the highest risk of earthquakes?

No serious injury or damage has been reported, firefighters said, though schools and public offices in the area were evacuated according to reports in Italian media.

Trains were stopped for several hours, including at least five high-speed services bound for Rome, leading to knock-on delays across the rail network, news agency Ansa reports. Major roads in the region remained open.

READ ALSO: Easyjet apologises for advertising Calabria region’s ‘mafia activity and earthquakes’

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EARTHQUAKES

Italy’s southern Calabria region rocked by strong 5.0 earthquake

A 5.0-magnitude earthquake struck Italy's southern region of Calabria on Thursday evening, causing no immediate damage but leaving residents shaken.

Published: 2 August 2024 08:48 CEST
Italy's southern Calabria region rocked by strong 5.0 earthquake

The quake hit at 9.43pm local time and had its epicentre three kilometres west of Pietrapaola, in the province of Cosenza, close to the Ionian Sea coastline, according to Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV).

Local authorities said there had been no immediate reports of damage or calls for help, but checks from Italy’s Civil Protection and fire brigades were ongoing on Friday morning.

The quake was felt distinctly across the entire Calabria region, but some social media users reported feeling it as far away as Bari, Puglia, some 250 kilometres (150 miles) to the north, according to AFP.

Pietrapaola Mayor Manuela Labonia told RaiNews 24 on Thursday evening that residents felt “other tremors, less strong ones” after the first quake and were “all in the streets”.

Two other tremors, of 2.3- and 3.1-magnitude respectively, were recorded following the 5.0 quake, according to RaiNews.

Many residents chose to spend the night outside their homes, with some sleeping in their cars and others setting up tents in their gardens, reports said.

The head of INGV, Carlo Doglioni, told RaiNews 24 there had been various tremors in the area in recent days, and the agency kept monitoring the situation.

Strong quakes are not new to the area. In December 1908, a devastating 7.2-magnitude earthquake with epicentre in the Strait of Messina, which separates Sicily from Calabria, almost completely destroyed the cities of Messina and Reggio Calabria, killing some 80,000 people.

More recently, in January 2022, a 4.3-magnitude quake shook the region, causing schools and public offices to be evacuated and halting rail services for hours on end.

No serious injury or damage was reported on that occasion.

Italy is among the most earthquake-prone countries in Europe as the Italian peninsula lies right where the African tectonic plate converges with the Eurasian plate, meaning that the country is “seismic in its entirety”, according to the country’s Civil Protection Department.

READ ALSO: Which parts of Italy have the highest risk of earthquakes?

Italy has been hit by more than 30,000 medium to strong earthquakes over the past 2,500 years, and seven earthquakes with a magnitude of 6.5 or more in the 20th century alone.

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