The Four Earthquakes Of Italy

The mountainous region of Italy was shaken by four earthquakes in four hours. The tremors have deadly reminded the people of earthquakes they faced a year before. 18th Jan instilled fear in the minds of the people. Buildings collapsed, but there were no injuries or deaths. The regions affected were Abruzzo, Lazio, and Marche. In the previous earthquake, almost 300 people lost their lives. Due to heavy snowfall, these areas were covered in blankets of snow, and the rescue operations were hindered as they had difficulty in reaching the remote villages in the mountains and remote lying farms. The tremors were felt in Rome also, and people became tensed, and metro services were halted.

The first tremor was felt at 10:25 am and the second one occurred at 2:30 pm. The magnitudes were 5.3 and 5.7. In Amatrice, the bell tower of a church came crumbling down. The village of Montreal was the epicenter of the earthquake as it falls under the category of faulty zones. Many villages were under the impact of cold winds and low temperatures. People were waiting outside for further instructions which were delayed due to extreme weather conditions. About one lakh people were stranded due to the loss of power, and there was a risk of avalanches too that could damage the situation further. The problems were two- snow and earthquake. Many of the hamlets were covered in snow and were difficult to approach. Many regions in Italy lie on seismic fault lines that make them vulnerable to earthquakes. Loss of power, disruption in communication systems and snowfall made the situation even worse. Days later, there were almost 45000 aftershocks in various regions. The Eurasian and African tectonic plates are always in conflict with each other causing tremors. Even the four quakes came in succession; there was no much loss bringing relief to lakhs of people.