Backgrounder: Major earthquakes in Italy since 1900
Xinhua, August 27, 2016 Adjust font size:
A 6.0-magnitude temblor on Wednesday hit central Italy at 3:36 a.m. local time (0136 GMT), with strong tremors felt in as far as Naples in Southern Italy. The disaster has killed at least 290 people so far.
Italy's National Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (INGV) said the quake was 6.0 magnitude, while the U.S. Geological Survey put the quake at 6.2 magnitude.
A series of strong and massive earthquakes have hit Italy in the past years. The following is a list of some strong and major ones since 1900:
On Sept. 8, 1905, an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale struck the southern Calabria region, from the city of Cosenza in the north to Reggio Calabria in the south, killing at least 2,500 people and destroying 25 villages.
On Dec. 28, 1908, a double catastrophe reduced Reggio Calabria and Messina, Sicily's second-biggest city, to rubble. The 7.2 magnitude earthquake was followed by a tsunami, which claimed 80,000 lives.
On Jan. 13, 1915, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit the town of Avezzano, in the central Abruzzo region, killing at least 33,000 people.
On July 23, 1930, a quake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale hit Irpinia, a region of the southern Appenine Mountains, leaving some 1,400 people killed and up to 7,000 injured.
On May 6, 1976, an earthquake struck Italy's northeastern Friuli-Venezia region, killing 989 people and injuring 2,800. Most of the town of Gemona was completely destroyed, as were the nearby towns of Buia, Colloredo, Osoppo, Venzone, Forgaria and Maiano. Some 157,000 people were left homeless.
On Nov. 23, 1980, some 2,700 people died and more than 7,500 were injured when a 6.5 magnitude quake struck the southern Campania and Basilicata regions. In the town of Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi, 27 children died in an orphanage, while in Balvano, 100 people were killed when a medieval church was destroyed during Sunday mass.
On Sept. 26, 1997, two quakes, within just a few days of each other, and measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale, claimed 13 lives in the Umbria region. More than 40,000 people lost their homes. The quakes also seriously damaged the St Francis Basilica in Assisi.
On April 6, 2009, a 6.3 magnitude quake occurred in the Abruzzo region in 2009, with L'Aquila, a 13th century city, being the worst affected. The disaster left 308 people dead, more than 1,500 injured and over 65,000 homeless.
On Oct. 31, 2002, thirty people, mostly children, were killed when a school collapsed in a 5.9 magnitude earthquake in Campobasso, in the south-central Molise region.
On May 20-29, 2012, two major earthquakes struck the northern Emilia-Romagna region, killing 27 people and causing widespread damage. Endit