Another strong earth tremor 5.8 this morning shook this area just after 9 AM.
Details are still coming in but it would seem that the epicentre was in the Comune di Finale Emilia, Modena but its effects were felt right across most of northern Italy.
Some shops and offices were evacuated in Bologna.
News agencies are reporting damage and at least 15 deaths so far.
Here in Barga there are no reports of any damage, but schools in the area have been temporarily evacuated while technicians from the Comune check to see if there has been any damage to the structures.
As the Mayor of Barga, Marco Bonini says in the interview recorded in Palazzo Pancrazi 10 minutes ago says, once these checks have been completed, the pupils and staff can once again re- enter the buildings and continue their studies.
BOLOGNA – Almeno quindici morti, sette dispersi e duecento feriti il bilancio delle scosse che hanno colpito oggi l’Emilia. Il sisma di oggi ha provocato ottomila sfollati che si aggiungono ai seimila della scossa dello scorso 20 maggio, ha spiegato il sottosegretario Antonio Catricalà, in un’informativa al Senato. – source ANSA
At least 15 people were killed in a 5.8-magnitude earthquake in northern Italy on Tuesday, Italian news agency ANSA reported.
The earthquake came nine days after a 6.0-magnitude quake in the same region killed seven people.
Italian civil protection authorities confirmed at least 10 people had died and predicted the number would rise as rescue workers search for survivors in the rubble.
Tuesday’s quake was followed by dozens of aftershocks. Italy’s Institute of Geology said the aftershocks measured 5.3 and 5.1 magnitude. The U.S. Geological Survey recorded one aftershock of 5.6 magnitude just before 1 p.m. local time.
Tuesday’s earthquake was centered in the province of Modena, near Bologna. The towns of Mirandola and Cavezzo were closest to the epicenter, civil protection authorities said.
Eyewitnesses reported on Twitter that Cavezzo was about 70% destroyed. Pictures purportedly from the town, as well as a video stream from Italian newspaper Corriere de la Serra, show a number of damaged buildings and some structures destroyed. The top of one church steeple was missing, and police tape was strung across several areas.
“People are very scared. It’s been shaking nonstop for the past week,” said journalist Andrea Vogt, who was near the epicenter.
“We don’t know how many are still trapped,” she told CNN. “Telephone lines are overloaded. It’s difficult to get through to emergency personnel.”
The earthquakes in the last 10 days have been “a real shock” to locals, she said, adding that no one could remember so many quakes in such a short period of time.
“Factories were full. Many of the workers were working on repairs to the already damaged buildings,” said Vogt, a freelance journalist based in Bologna.
A spokeswoman for the prefecture, or government office, in Modena said as many as 12,000 people could be displaced, including those affected by the previous earthquakes.
“Damages are very serious. The old centres of many villages have been closed down to (the) public and many little villages have been completely evacuated,” she said.
Authorities are already working to set up more tent camps to house those forced from their homes, she said, and many hotels and campsites have also offered space to those in need.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti was in a meeting discussing last week’s earthquake with the head of the civil protection agency and the governor of the region when the new earthquake hit.
“The state will do all what needs to be done, in the quickest way, to assure the return to normal life to such a special and productive region of the country,” Monti said in a televised statement.
“Some buildings that were damaged already in last week’s earthquake were affected again today. San Felice sul Panaro and Mirandola registered most of the damage,” a spokeswoman said.
Eyewitness Violetta Galia said she was afraid to remain in Bologna after the tremors.
“We’ve been having many quakes, so it’s not safe to go back to work. We are having problems with communications, so it’s not easy to get in contact with somebody by phone,” she told CNN via Skype.
“I don’t feel safe — I need to go away, I don’t want to live (in) Bologna. If I don’t leave Bologna, I will never feel safe because we are still having quakes every three or five minutes.”
CNN iReporter Martina Lunardelli, a freelance translator and interpreter, said she was at work in Pieve di Soligo, Italy, when she felt the earthquake.
She described her fear and bewilderment as it struck, saying she heard “that thunder sound and my head spinning fast, as if I was drunk and could not see the others around since they were out of focus. I felt so strange.”
At least 40 other aftershocks, most shallow and with a magnitude of 2 to 3, shook the region Tuesday, according to the Italian geological service.
A spokeswoman for the prefecture in Ferrara province said people were in need of urgent help.
“We need tents. The number of displaced is increasing. It will take time to check if homes are safe, and also people are terrified and don’t want to sleep in their houses,” she said.
“We had enormous damage to all our factories, and there will be dramatic consequences on employment.”
The area’s cultural heritage has also suffered, she said, with two churches destroyed in the village of Cento and another church facade collapsing.
Many buildings that were damaged in the previous earthquake were unable to withstand the latest tremors. Others have been left unsafe, many of them churches and older buildings with ornamental stonework.
Authorities face an additional logistical challenge in helping local communities because emergency supplies are already depleted from the response to the earlier quake.
Some train services have been suspended for safety reasons, and high-speed trains from Bologna to Milan and Florence, among others, are running at slower speeds, train operators said. There are no trains stuck on tracks, said Trenitalia, the Italian train system.
Northern Italy is the heartland of the country’s manufacturing industry.
“It’s going to have an economic impact as well as a human impact,” Vogt said of the earthquake. – source CNN
Una scossa di terremoto molto violenta è stata registrata alle 9.00, di magnitudo 5.7. L’epicentro è stato localizzato a Porggio Rusco, al confine tra le province di Mantova e Modena.
M5.8 – 3km SSE of Medolla, Italy 2012-05-29 07:00:03 UTC
Un terremoto di magnitudo(Ml) 5.8 è avvenuto alle ore 09:00:03 italiane del giorno 29/Mag/2012 (07:00:03 29/Mag/2012 – UTC).
Il terremoto è stato localizzato dalla Rete Sismica Nazionale dell’INGV nel distretto sismico: Pianura_padana_emiliana.
I valori delle coordinate ipocentrali e della magnitudo rappresentano la migliore stima con i dati a disposizione. Eventuali nuovi dati o analisi potrebbero far variare le stime attuali della localizzazione e della magnitudo.
La scossa di stamattina è stata distintamente avvertita un po’ in tutta la provincia, compresa la Valle del Serchio. Una nuova scossa è stata avvertita anche questo pomeriggio. Si tratta comunque di scosse dovute all’onda d’urto proveniente dall’Emilia e quindi sicuramente di minore intensità rispetto a quelle avvertite oltre Appennino.
Oggi pomeriggio abbiamo nuovamente sentito gli amministratori comunali, nella persona dell’assessore Pietro Onesti. L’evacuazione delle scuole è stata solo temporanea e cautelativa. Entro oggi i tecnici comunali concluderanno le verifiche, ma per il momento non è stato verificato nessun danno agli edifici scolastici. Per questo motivo non è stata emessa nessuna ordinanza di chiusura come invece sembra sia avvenuto in altre parti della provincia. Onesti ha parlato anche di inutile allarmismo per un sisma il cui epicentro è ben lontano dalle nstre zone.
Dati evento
Event-ID 7223045800
Magnitudo(Ml) 5.8
Data-Ora 29/05/2012 alle 09:00:03 (italiane)
29/05/2012 alle 07:00:03 (UTC)
Coordinate 44.851°N, 11.086°E
Profondità 10.2 km
Distretto sismico Pianura_padana_emiliana
Comuni entro i 10Km
CAMPOSANTO (MO)
CAVEZZO (MO)
MEDOLLA (MO)
MIRANDOLA (MO)
SAN FELICE SUL PANARO (MO)
SAN POSSIDONIO (MO)
SAN PROSPERO (MO)
Comuni tra 10 e 20km
MAGNACAVALLO (MN)
MOGLIA (MN)
PIEVE DI CORIANO (MN)
POGGIO RUSCO (MN)
QUINGENTOLE (MN)
QUISTELLO (MN)
SAN GIACOMO DELLE SEGNATE (MN)
SAN GIOVANNI DEL DOSSO (MN)
SCHIVENOGLIA (MN)
VILLA POMA (MN)
BASTIGLIA (MO)
BOMPORTO (MO)
CONCORDIA SULLA SECCHIA (MO)
NONANTOLA (MO)
NOVI DI MODENA (MO)
RAVARINO (MO)
SOLIERA (MO)
CREVALCORE (BO)
SANT’AGATA BOLOGNESE (BO)