Another year lived dangerously. 2023 from a seismic point of view it was very risky with repeated shocks. The time has truly come for us all to become aware of this constant danger. Politics finds time and resources to not run after other tragedies.
The president of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, Carlo Doglioni he says it bluntly: “It's fundamental spread awareness of seismic danger and the importance of knowing more and more about the geological structure of our nation, in order to better protect ourselves from seismic risk".
Seismic network data: constant and threatening trend
The institute has just released the data collected updated from last year. Constant and threatening trend. During the 12 months the seismic network detected 16.307 events, almost one every 30 minutes, at a rate of 44 day. The strongest shock was recorded off the coast of Calabria, with a magnitude of 5.2 on May 2.0st, but the region with the most earthquakes with a magnitude greater than XNUMX was Sicily.
The data is not very different from that of 2022. Although there are less devastating events than those of the years 2016, 2017 and 2018, characterized by the seismic sequence in central Italy (Amatrice-Norcia-Visso), the phenomena must be kept under control.
Half a century of disasters
Preventing them is not easy but limiting the damage is possible. From the point of view of human lives, in 50 years there have been thousands of victims; Approximately 200 billion euros, approximated by default, were spent to rebuild.
The earthquakes in Friuli and Irpinia are in the annals of volcanology but in the meantime Italy has been devastated by land consumption, by atmospheric phenomena upstream and downstream, by constructions that are only formally prohibited. A quarter of that money could be used for safety.
It is increasingly difficult to understand why, despite being one of the most exposed countries in the world, it is not possible to act sooner in the known areas. The worst year for recent earthquakes was 2016 with approx 60 thousand shocks. If Sardinia remains the region with the least seismic intensity, Sicily counted 181 events in one year. In the ranking of "mobile" areas, the Tuscan-Romagnolo Apennines and the Campi Flegrei are at the top. The seismic sensors placed there, as well as for the Civil Protection, also sound for the political buildings. Impossible not to hear them.
