Earthquake on the Marche coast, today, Saturday 22 June 2024, six earthquakes occurred between Ancona and Pesaro. The seismic events that were recorded were all located at sea and the shock with the strongest magnitude was 2.8.
Several earthquakes have hit the Marche coast between Pesaro and Ancona. From the night until this morning, six were detected, all minor. The strongest was recorded in Pesaro by the INGV (National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology) at 6.55am with a magnitude of 2.7, followed by another at 7.30am with magnitude 2.6. The last shock of the series, with a magnitude of 2.0, was recorded at 9:06 off the coast of Ancona.
Earthquake on the Marche coast: here is the intensity
As regards the Ancona area, the tremors, which also occurred at sea at a depth of approximately 7 km, recorded magnitudes of 2.8 at 2.30 am and 2.1 at 4.00 am.
How do these earthquakes occur? Paride Antolini speaks, geologist from Cesena and president of the Order of Geologists of Emilia-Romagna, who we contacted to find out more about the earthquake that worried residents and tourists on the Riviera on Monday 12 June, around 11pm, but without causing any damage to buildings.
The earthquake, of magnitude 3.5, originated in the sea, 6 km deep and just 3 km from the coast between Riccione and Misano.
“This is not a significant shock in itself,” explains Antolini, “but it was clearly felt by the population due to the proximity and shallow depth of the epicenter. We cannot predict possible aftershocks or the formation of an earthquake swarm. These are events that may or may not occur, and statistics in these cases do not help us.”
Antolini attributes the origin of the earthquake to the intense geological activity of central Italy, located on the margin of convergence between the African and Eurasian plates. The relative movement between these plates causes the accumulation of energy and deformation, which is occasionally released in the form of earthquakes of varying magnitudes.
In 1916, Rimini was devastated by two serious earthquakes: the first on May 17th and the second, of magnitude 5.9, on August 16th, known as the ‘Ferragosto catastrophe’. At least fifteen aftershocks were recorded between these two events. The toll from the earthquake on August 16 was 4 dead, 30 injured and extensive damage to buildings.
