“we can expect other similar or stronger tremors”

Last night, March 27, 2024, at 10.19 pm (local time) an earthquake of magnitude 4.6 (M_L). Subsequently, other low-magnitude earthquakes were located in the same area. At 2.00pm today, the strongest aftershocks were recorded at 10.45pm (local time) on March 27, (magnitude 2.3) and at 3:36 am on March 28 (magnitude 2.7).

“Last night’s shock comes after a long period of low seismicity for the Friuli area, both in terms of number of events and energy released”he claims Carla Barnaba of the Seismological Research Center of the National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics – OGS. “In recent years, let’s think about 2018, we have recorded several seismic episodes close together in time, but all with a magnitude lower than 4”. This threshold, seismologists say, means that the seismic event is clearly perceived by a large part of the population in much of the region. “It is important to remember that we live in a seismic area and that episodes like last night’s follow what has already happened in the past. In particular, for the Tramonti di Sopra area, in 1794 an earthquake with an intensity equal to the VIII-IX degree on the Mercalli scale occurred, followed twenty days later by a repeat of comparable intensity (VII-VIII). This means that we can expect other events of comparable magnitude to last night’s quake, or even stronger”.

The contribution of Civil Protection Volunteers

The contribution of the Civil Protection Volunteers was very important, who promptly reacted by filling out the questionnaires dedicated to them following last night’s earthquake (03/27/2024, 10.19 pm, M_L =4.6) in the Tramonti area. The Volunteers follow courses held by CRS researchers and are trained in the principles of seismology and then ready to answer questions about how the earthquake was perceived. This information allows the Civil Protection of Friuli Venezia Giulia and the OGS to better understand the impact of earthquakes.

Within a few minutes of the earthquake at 10.19pm yesterday, 88 completed forms were collected on the Friuli Venezia Giulia Civil Protection website, and after an hour and a half there were 156 forms. This morning there were 228 completed forms. The support of the Volunteers of Civil Protection thus provides concrete help to the alert system and management of emergency events.