From Friday 4 November to Sunday 6 November, the national exercise "Exe Sisma dello Strait 2022" will be held in the territory of the Calabria Region and the Sicilian Region, coordinated by the Department of Civil Protection (DPC), which aims to verify the operational response of the National Civil Protection Service to a seismic event in an area characterized by a very high seismic hazard.
The National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), as the Operational Structure of the National Civil Protection System, will be the primary actor of this exercise which also serves to test the procedures to be implemented in the event of a seismic and tsunami emergency.
The simulated earthquake will have a Richter magnitude 6.0 (moment magnitude Mw 6.2), with a scenario that reports the greatest damage in some municipalities in the province of Reggio Calabria but with important effects also in the province of Messina. Indeed, the simulated event will likely be capable of triggering environmental effects on land such as landslides and liquefaction, reactivation of faults capable of breaking the surface and, potentially, a tidal wave.
When the simulated earthquake occurs, the INGV Seismic Surveillance Room will communicate the coordinates, magnitude and depth of the event whose epicenter will be in the Province of Reggio Calabria.
Contextually, on the basis of the parameters of the earthquake, the INGV Tsunami Warning Center (CAT-INGV), which operates under the SiAM (National Tsunami Alert System generated by earthquakes in the Mediterranean Sea), will run simulations for a potential tsunami with an Orange alert level.
The CAT will evaluate this possibility by estimating the expected arrival times and the alert levels along the exposed coasts, and by sending the alert message to the DPC who will forward it to the local authorities and to all the components of the National Civil Protection System.
Furthermore, INGV will test the internal communication processes, the convocation and the activities of its Crisis Unit (UdC-INGV), the Seismic Surveillance and Tsunami Warning Room and the activities of all its Emergency Operational Groups (GO-INGV): 'Seismic Emergency Operational Coordination' (COES), 'Seismic Emergency Information' (IES), EMERGENCY, EMERGED, 'QUick Earthquake Survey Team' (QUEST) to EARTHQUAKE.
The task of the EMERGEO, EMERSITO, QUEST and SISMIKO Operational Groups is the collection of new scientific data for immediate support to the INGV Unit of Control and the carrying out of technical-scientific analyzes to be sent to the DPC in support of Civil Protection interventions and for subsequent research activity.
The IES and COES Operational Groups, on the other hand, essentially carry out support activities for all the actors involved in the organization and on-site management of the emergency. Furthermore, similarly to what happened in the seismic emergencies from 2009 onwards, the COES will be established at the Di.Coma.C of Reggio Calabria which will guarantee continuous communication from the INGV to the DPC and, more generally, to the National Service of Civil protection.
The internal exercise scenario of INGV will include communication flows towards the public and the media regarding the information currently published on the portal and on institutional social networks.
The exercise takes place in conjunction with the World Tsunami Awareness Day (WTAD), the world tsunami risk awareness day, established by the UNDRR in 2015 and which is celebrated every year on November 5th.
Image - Tsunami map viewer SAM.
Image - EXE Earthquake 2022 logo.