Earthquake Piemonte Southern 2000

Thousands were reported to the civil protection of damage in homes, public buildings or churches (some of these remained unreasonable for a few months) and different evacuations, especially in areas of the province of Asti. Numerous homes or public buildings declared partially or totally unusable^[2]. Several pieces of rubble and chimneys fallen in the streets (e.g Asti a car was overwhelmed and destroyed by a big kick, fortunately empty), and some people hospitalized because of panic or malori crisis due to the shock. The sisma fortunately did not provoke total collapses and there were no serious injuries or victims. The most important damages were reported to a medieval tower in Liguria, between Andora and Borghetto Santo Spirito, and to an uninhabited rural house partially collapsed in the Astigiano and the spire of the bell tower of the Church of S.Perpetuo di Solero.^[3] The roof and part of the tower of Palazzo dei Marchesi Moscheni collapsed Bergamasco and, in the same country, serious damage to the Parish of the Nativity of Virgin Mary was found, declared unjust and reopened after a few years of work.^[4] Hundreds of people slept outside their homes for the nights immediately after the shock.
The earthquake had as an immediate consequence a congestion in telephone traffic, effect of 100 000 calls in a quarter of an hour, which in fact isolated the Astisan phone.

On the occasion of the earthquake, approximately 20 billion liras were allocated by the government (about 10.3 million euros) for private individuals for damages caused by the earthquake.

The area of Monferrato He's not at high seismic risk. In fact, although quite frequent in Piemonte, shocks have never reached the 6th degree of Richter scale. The event of 21 August 2000 is therefore one of the strongest ones that have ever been in the area ofAstigiano but also the whole region and the most important of recent decades. In other areas Piemonte In ancient times, however, some very strong earthquakes occurred, even with intensity attributed up to the VIII-IX degree of the Mercalli scale, with several collapses and victims^[5]. But the only strong earthquakes of which we have news, with an epicenter closer to the area, were in 1786 (the epicenter however in the province of Cuneo^[6]; this sisma was attributed a maximum intensity of the VI Mercalli), in 1828 (5,6 Richter) and in 1945 (5,2 Richter), but fortunately they did not cause very serious damage, probably also for the depth in which they occurred; the latter two (with epicenter in thealessandrino) would have been the earthquakes with the greatest magnitude for the area. On August 6, 1982, a magnitude 4.0 earthquake was recorded, with an epicenter at San Damiano d'Asti. However, it was felt quite lightly by the population, given the depth of over 25 km.

After the 2000 event, a couple of earthquakes of some intensity have occurred until today. At 00:47 on 19 July 2001, the land returned to tremble in the Astisan, with a shock of the fourth degree on the Richter scale (V - VI Mercalli), with approximately the same epicenter of the year before, but there were no particular damage. The last strong shock dates back to 11 April 2003 at 11:27 am, with an intensity equal to 4.7 Richter^[1] (VI - VII Mercalli). The epicenter on that occasion was between province of Alessandria and the Ligurian Apennines; in the following days damage was estimated for 80 million euros in 58 municipalities, with 300 displaced persons, 5 000 houses injured and several wounded.

A slight shock occurred at 14:39 on 19 April 2009, with a magnitude of 3.9 (epicentro tra Bra, Asti and Turin) at 40 km of depth, slightly felt in the Astigiano, better in Turin and in Cuneo.

After the frequent shocks of the last decade, currently the Valle Belbo (classified at seismicity level 4, i.e. very low seismicity) is being studied by scientists to understand if the area is at seismic risk.

Below, here is the detailed list of the main shocks of the seismic sequence recorded before and after the main event^[6]. The main shock is highlighted in dark blue, while all shocks equal to or greater than magnitude 3 are marked in light blue.

^[7]