Sometimes seismic forgetting is slowed down thanks to shared memory. An example is the procession of the Madonna del Carmine, a commemorative cult held every year in Calabria in Palmi (RC) in memory of the earthquake of November 16, 1894. To find out what happened that day and understand why it is so important not to forget, we interviewed Concetta Ours, INGV researcher, who answered our curiosities.
Concetta, in a post published on the INGVterremoti blog it is stated that nine citizens out of ten residing in Zone 1, the most dangerous, underestimate the danger that could arise from an earthquake. Why do you think this happens?
The main cause is the lack of awareness of the risk also favored by the absence of direct experience of the phenomenon or by the loss of historical memory regarding natural disasters. This memory, in fact, with the passage of time becomes more and more ephemeral until it is completely lost.
In some locations forgetting is slowed down thanks to shared memory. An example is the procession of the Madonna del Carmine which is held every year in Calabria in Palmi (RC) in memory of the earthquake of November 16, 1894. What happened that day?
The earthquake was preceded on the same day by three minor aftershocks. Immediately after the third shock, which occurred around 18 pm, the population had left the houses and had decided to carry the statue of the Madonna del Carmine in procession. When the strongest earthquake occurred, at 18:52, most of the inhabitants of Palmi were participating in the improvised procession. This event has come down to us and is known as the "Miracle of the Madonna del Carmine of Palmi". Precisely the fact that most of the population was participating in the procession meant that at the time of the shock many were unharmed.
From the following year the episode became part of the local tradition in the form of a commemorative cult which is still celebrated today. Every November 16th, in Palmi, the statue of the Madonna del Carmine is carried in procession and, at a certain point, the bearers of the Virgin begin to run along the same stretch of road, about 100 meters long, which was run while the the earth shook and the houses around were collapsing.
What were the areas most affected by the earthquake?
Information on this earthquake can be found in the Catalog of Strong Earthquakes in Italy. The earthquake struck southern Calabria and eastern Sicily and had destructive effects in an area of 80 sq km between the Piani d'Aspromonte and the Tyrrhenian coast. The villages most damaged were San Procopio and Sant'Eufemia d'Aspromonte, where many buildings collapsed totally or in large parts. In 17 other localities in the province of Reggio Calabria, including Bagnara Calabra, Palmi, Seminara, the earthquake caused more limited total collapses, but most of the buildings suffered serious injuries, structural instability and partial collapses. In Messina and Reggio Calabria many buildings were damaged, some seriously, especially in the internal partition walls, ceilings and floors. In over 110 inhabited centers of the two provinces and of the current province of Vibo Valentia, similar damages of considerable size were found. The area of light damage extended for about 15.000 sq km, also including part of the province of Catanzaro and some localities of the Aeolian Islands. To the north, the shock was felt strongly in Catanzaro and more lightly in the province of Cosenza and up to the province of Matera. In Sicily it was strongly felt in the province of Catania and in some places in the province of Syracuse; weakly up to Palermo.
What are the sources that have come down to us?
An important testimony is that of Giuseppe Mercalli, seismologist and volcanologist famous for the homonymous macroseismic scale which measures the intensity of seismic tremors on the basis of the effects caused. Mercalli describes this earthquake and talks about the procession in his 1897 essay on the earthquakes of southern Calabria and Messina.
At the moment of the main shock the “… people who supported the simulacrum of the Madonna, carrying it in procession, they felt the wooden bars in their hands raised by an invisible force by about half a span; later their legs swayed so that they could hardly stand."
In conclusion, what could be done to increase citizens' awareness of the risks that characterize the area in which they live?
A lot of work needs to be done on risk prevention. An important initiative that has seen INGV involved for over 10 years is the "I don't risk" campaign, a communication campaign dedicated to reducing the risk of natural phenomena aimed at spreading good civil protection practices. We must work to broaden and disseminate knowledge of the risks of each territory so that awareness of the consequences connected to them increases and the adoption of the necessary precautions is reached.
To learn more
Guidoboni E., Ferrari G., Mariotti D., Comastri A., Tarabusi G., Sgattoni G., Valensise G. (2018) - CFTI5Med, Catalog of Severe Earthquakes in Italy (461 BC-1997) and in the Mediterranean area (760 BC-1500). National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV). doi:
Mercalli G. (1897). The earthquakes of southern Calabria and Messina (Sage of a regional seismic monograph), in: "Memories of the Italian Society of Sciences (known as the XL)", series III, volume XI, pp. 117-266, Rome 1897.