Last night at hours 3:26 a strong shock of magnitude 4.8 hit the Ionian Sea to a depth of 48 km. The epicenter of the shock was identified to approx 50 km From the southern coast of Calabria, at a distance of about 72 km from Reggio Calabria, 84 km from Messina and 89 km from Syracuse. The earthquake was felt distinctly in various Calabrian and Sicilian locations, including cities Messina, Reggio Calabria, Joy Tauro, Catania And Syracusewith a maximum value on Mercalli scale (MCS) equal to IV degree. Fortunately, no tsunami alert was issued, given that the minimum magnitude threshold to activate the Tsunami Alert Center it is equal to 5.5.
Regarding the value of the hypocentro – which we remember being 48 km – it is an estimate that could vary in the next few hours, given that the calculation of the depth for earthquakes in the open sea is more complex to determine. But from a geological point of view, what were the causes of today’s earthquake?
As confirmed also by a recent deepening published by the Ingv, the earthquake area is close to a region ad High seismic dangeras clearly visible from the image below.
In the past, in fact, various earthquakes of magnitude less than 5.5 have been recorded in the same area, while just 50-100 km away are located within which very violent sections have occurred, such as that of 1783 in Calabria and that of 1908 Of Messina And Reggio Calabria – The strongest ever recorded in Italy.
But why are there so many earthquakes in Italy? To answer this question, here is a video ad hoc On the subject:
