Seismic control

The control of seismicity? Italian

Twenty-four hours a day, every day of the year, technicians and researchers of theIstituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) maintains the national seismic network fully functional and provides extremely precise, detailed information on seismic activity across the entire country. INGV is the only research institution in the world to voluntarily carry out this activity. Over the past ten years, the national seismic network has reached a very high density (over 300 stations) and therefore extreme sensitivity. In the last week alone, we have accurately located 327 earthquakes throughout Italy, very few of which were strong enough to be felt by the population, and many others, even smaller, were merely recorded. Just a few years ago, with the network at a very different technological level than today, only 8 of these 327 tremors would have been located, and therefore only 8 tremors would have appeared on our site. The increase in the network's sensitivity therefore leads to an increase in seismicity that is only apparent, and therefore should not lead to alarmism or catastrophic interpretations. The situation is made more complex by the fact that - as is normal - many earthquake sequences in recent months have shaken areas already identified as "high-risk" by INGV studies and perceived as such by the population, or at least by a portion of it.

Contrary to what you ? heard in recent days, the INGV wants to continue to inform systematically? the population, the administrators and the researchers on? activity? seismic activity, continuing a mission that has lasted since 1983, when the National Seismic Network was born in the aftermath of the 1980 Irpinia earthquake: but does it want to do it in a truly useful way, and that is? with completeness, timeliness? and impartiality, but above all without lending the side to those who distort the great facility? gives access to information typical of our day to stand out or launch catastrophic messages, leveraging people's natural fears.

Finally, we want to underline once again the importance of having stringent building regulations, and above all of enforcing them. The opportunity there? offered by the magnitude 7.1 earthquake? exactly the magnitude estimated for the catastrophic 1908 earthquake in Reggio and Messina, which hit New Zealand a few days ago. Undoubtedly there was damage to infrastructure, as could be expected given that the earthquake, very strong and superficial, ? It was located just 40km from Christchurch (population 380.000), the third largest city in the world. of New Zealand. Were there any injuries as well? a few dozen - but no casualties. On January 12, an earthquake of similar dimensions, that of Haiti, rightly dominated the press and television for weeks. Instead, and with the _sole_ exception of Il Sole 24 Ore and a few passages on the web, the New Zealand earthquake has not received any media attention; to all intents and purposes a /non-news/. Obviously it's not up to us to establish or criticize the rules of media communication, in virtue of of which the earthquake makes news only if and insofar as it produces victims and devastation. But as people who have the future of Italy and the well-being of Italians at heart, we cannot fail to point out how, with this earthquake in New Zealand, yet another opportunity has been lost to get the population a simple and understandable message to anyone want to understand: if an earthquake of an order of magnitude greater than the Aquila earthquake of 6 April 2009, which released an energy equal to about thirty times that which shook Abruzzo did not cause even one victim, the explanation does not can? be sought only in the good fortune of New Zealanders or in low density? New Zealand housing. AND? It is clear that only enormous differences in construction styles, and therefore in vulnerability, can explain the differences between Italy and New Zealand: why? ? been a century since the? Emperor of Japan mand? the seismologist Fusakici Omori in Messina and Reggio Calabria to understand why an earthquake is much more? least of those that regularly hit Tokyo had caused so much havoc. Obviously the problem? always the same.

Only adequate constructions will solve the problem of seismic risk in Italy, and this? a task facing local politics. Has INGV, with the collaboration of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, produced the Danger Map? Seismic of the national territory, which indicates the areas that may be subject to strong ground accelerations and therefore at risk for buildings. Unfortunately this map is /often or sometimes/ ignored. The media could do a lot to change this.

Enzo Boschi
President of theIstituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia

08.09.2010