Mario Locati

CPTI11, the 2011 version of the Parametric Catalogue of Italian Earthquakes

CPTI11 updates and improves the 2004 version of CPTI with respect to background information and structure. It is based on updated macroseismic (DBMI11; Locati et al., 2011) and instrumental databases; it contains records of foreshocks and aftershocks; for some offshore events, macroseismic earthquake parameters have been determined by means of the method by Bakun and Wentworth (1997); when both macroseismic and instrumental parameters are available, the two determinations and a default one are provided (in this case, the epicentre is selected according to expert judgement, while Mw is obtained as a weighted mean); for some events, whose macroseismic data are poor, no macroseismic parameters have been determined. CPTI11 does not include the results of some methodological developments performed in the frame of the EC project “SHARE”. It does not consider the information background provided by: Molin et al. (2008); Camassi et al. (2011); recent studies on individual earthquakes; ECOS 2009 (Faeh et al., 2011) and SisFrance, 2010, yet, which will be considered in the next version. The area covered by CPTI11 is slightly reduced with respect to the one of CPTI04 (Fig. 1). The catalogue is composed of two sections: the main one (1000-2006) and the “Etna” earthquakes, for which a specific calibration is used for determining earthquake parameters. Appendix 4 supplies the list of the events which were included in CPTI04 but not in CPTI11 and the relevant explanation.

The SHARE European Earthquake Catalogue (SHEEC) 1000–1899

In the frame of the European Commission project “Seismic Hazard Harmonization in Europe” (SHARE), aiming at harmonizing seismic hazard at a European scale, the compilation of a homogeneous, European parametric earthquake catalogue was planned. The goal was to be achieved by considering the most updated historical dataset and assessing homogenous magnitudes, with support from several institutions. This paper describes the SHARE European Earthquake Catalogue (SHEEC), which covers the time window 1000–1899. It strongly relies on the experience of the European Commission project “Network of Research Infrastructures for European Seismology” (NERIES), a module of which was dedicated to create the European “Archive of Historical Earthquake Data” (AHEAD) and to establish methodologies to homogenously derive earthquake parameters from macroseismic data. AHEAD has supplied the final earthquake list, obtained after sorting duplications out and eliminating many fake events; in addition, it supplied the most updated historical dataset. Macroseismic data points (MDPs) provided by AHEAD have been processed with updated, repeatable procedures, regionally calibrated against a set of recent, instrumental earthquakes, to obtain earthquake parameters. From the same data, a set of epicentral intensity-to-magnitude relations has been derived, with the aim of providing another set of homogeneous Mw estimates. Then, a strategy focussed on maximizing the homogeneity of the final epicentral location and Mw, has been adopted. Special care has been devoted also to supply location and Mw uncertainty. The paper focuses on the procedure adopted for the compilation of SHEEC and briefly comments on the achieved results.

DBMI15, the 2015 version of the Italian Macroseismic Database

Provides homogeneous set of macroseismic intensity data collected from several sources, for Italian earthquakes with maximum intensity ≥ 5 in the period 1000-2014.

On-Line Seismic Hazard Data for the New Italian Building Code

The probabilistic seismic hazard of Italy was assessed in 2004 to match the requirements of the new seismic provisions. This such map, now recognized as the official reference for design according to the building and administrative issues, is the result of a comprehensive seismic hazard model that takes into account the variability in seismicity, seismogenic potential, and propagation in different areas of Italy. Since 2004, we have computed seismic hazard in terms of peak ground acceleration and spectral acceleration values for varied annual probabilities of exceedance, including a measure of their variability. These data allow as to: (1) compute site-specific seismic hazard curves and uniform hazard spectra; (2) anchor the elastic response spectra; and (3) set seismological constraints on the limit states. These seismic hazard data are stored in a database, freely accessible to all end-users via the web, where they can be downloaded or consulted through a WebGIS tool.

The AHEAD Portal: A Gateway to European Historical Earthquake Data

Online Material: Table of macroseismic intensity symbols and color codes. The description of the seismicity of the European region is today fragmented into an increasing number of earthquake archives, databases, and catalogs related to individual countries or even to part of them. Therefore, the compilation of a comprehensive, European earthquake history requires dealing with a puzzle of partially overlapping, only partially public catalogs, the background of which is compiled according to varied schemes. One of the consequences is that earthquakes in the frontier areas are often interpreted in a conflicting way by the catalogs of the bordering countries. In the framework of the European Commission (EC), 2006–2010 Network of Research Infrastructures for European Seismology (NERIES) Project, the task of Networking Activity 4 (NA4) was defined precisely to conceive and develop solutions to bridge over these differences. NA4 promoted the cooperation among existing national online archives, and contributed establishing new regional online archives compiled according to common standards. As a result, a first release of the distributed European archive of historical earthquake data, for the time‐window 1000–1899 and for the large earthquakes, was published in 2010. Special attention was devoted to retrieve the earthquake background information, that is, the results of historical earthquake investigation—referenced to as studies in the following—in terms of a paper, a report, a book chapter, a map, etc. As the most useful studies are those supplying a set of macroseismic data points (MDPs)—that is a list of localities (name and coordinates) with a macroseismic intensity assessment and the related macroseismic scale—a dedicated effort was addressed to make such data available. The Archive of Historical Earthquake Data (AHEAD) distributed archive was improved and updated in the frame of the 2010–2012 EC Project Seismic Hazard Harmonization in Europe (SHARE), …

The Global Earthquake History

The study of earthquakes from historical sources, or historical seismology, was considered an early priority for the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) project, which commissioned a study of historical seismicity on a global scale. This was the Global Earthquake History (GEH) project, led jointly by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV; Milan, Italy) and the British Geological Survey (BGS; UK). GEH was structured around three complementary deliverables: archive, catalog, and the Web infrastructure designed to store both the archive and catalog. The Global Historical Earthquake Archive (GHEA) provides a complete account of the global situation in historical seismology for large earthquakes. From GHEA, the Global Historical Earthquake Catalogue (GHEC v1.0) was derived—a world catalog of earthquakes for the period 1000–1903, with magnitudes of Mw7 and over. Though much remains to be done, the data here presented show that the compilation of both archive and catalog contribute to an improved understanding of the Global Earthquake History.

Rosetta, a tool for linking accelerometric recordings and macroseismic observations: description and applications

Investigating relationships between macroseismic intensity and strong-motion data requires the existence of these two records for the same seismic event and site. In Italy, this comparison is feasible through the cross-matching of the Italian Macroseismic Database (DBMI) and the Italian Strong-Motion Database (ITACA) which are the most comprehensive sources of both data. However, the two databases lack a direct link which would allow performing joint analysis of macroseismic data points and strong-motion recordings, making the comparison a time consuming job for the researcher. This paper demonstrates the usefulness of cross-database identifiers, and presents their use in a web-tool called Rosetta, an initial proof-of-concept that helped testing linking procedures among DBMI and ITACA, and user friendly visual solutions. The development allowed the working group to exchange expertise on their respective database structures and workflows, laying the groundwork for a consistent, low-maintenance, and durable solution that will be easily updatable each time a new version of DBMI or ITACA will be released.

Catalogo PArametrico dei Terremoti Italiani, versione CPTI11

The Italian Parametric Earthquake Catalogue (CPTI, Catalogo Parametrico dei Terremoti Italiani) represents the most extensive and reliable source of parameters for earthquakes in Italy and surrounding areas. CPTI15 is the fourth release of the CPTI series, the first dating back to 1999, and provides the most advanced and updated sets of macroseismic and instrumental data and parameters, for Italian earthquakes with maximum intensity I ≥ 5 or magnitude Mw ≥ 4.0 in the period 1000-2014. The catalogue lists 4584 events, 70% of which are based on the macroseismic datapoints provided by the Italian Macroseismic Database DBMI15. If available, both macroseismic and instrumental parameters are provided, together with a set of “preferred ones”, which consist of a selection between the macroseismic and the instrumental epicentres, and the weighted average of the macroseismic and instrumental magnitudes.

A Damage Scenario for the 2012 Northern Italy Earthquakes and Estimation of the Economic Losses to Residential Buildings

In May 2012 a seismic sequence occurred in Northern Italy that was characterized by two main shocks with a magnitude range between 5.5 and 6. These shocks represent a good case study by which to quantify the monetary losses caused by a moderate earthquake in a densely populated and economically well-developed area. The loss estimation accounts for damage to residential buildings, and considers the full effect of all the seismic aftershock events that lasted for nearly a month. The building damage estimation is based on the European Macroseismic Scale (EMS-98) definitions, which depict the effects of an earthquake on built-up areas in terms of observed intensities. Input data sources are the residential building census provided by Istituto Nazionale di Statistica—the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT)—and the official market value of real estate assets, obtained from the Osservatorio del Mercato Immobiliare—the Real Estate Market Observatory (OMI). These data make it possible to quantify the economic losses due to earthquakes, an economic indicator updated yearly. The proposed multidisciplinary method takes advantage of seismic, engineering, and economic data sets, and is able to provide a reasonable after the event losses scenario. Data are not gathered for each single building and the intensity values are not a simple hazard indicator, but, notwithstanding its coarseness, this method ensures both robust and reproducible results. As the local property value is available throughout the Italian territory, the present loss assessment can be effortlessly repeated for any area, and may be quickly reproduced in case of future events, or used for predictive economic estimations.

Archive of Historical Earthquake Data for the European-Mediterranean Area

The importance of historical earthquake data is largely recognized by both seismologists and engineers, who use such data in a wide range of applications.