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).
🔴🔴 [DATI #RIVISTI] #terremoto ML 5 ore 21:43 IT del 01-08-2024 a 3 km W Pietrapaola (CS) Prof= 21 Km #INGV_39921481 https://t.co/NxoCdGx5y9 https://t.co/aKoglerloA
— INGVterremoti (@INGVterremoti) August 1, 2024
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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