“Unexpected” earthquake in Milan, experts explain its origin

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On Thursday, December 17, an earthquake in magnitude 3.9. The epicenter was located 6 kilometers west of Milan, between Pero and Corsico, with a depth of 56 kilometers. A rare and unexpected event, which alarmed many Milanese.

“Beneath the Milan area there are several faults and therefore, the territory is not an exception compared to the rest of Italy that is at seismic risk, “he explained to Corriere della Sera Lucia Luzi, director of the Milan section of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (Ingv). The earthquake, he said, “occurred in an area where a strong acceleration of the ground was not expected.”

The origin of Thursday’s earthquake, explains Ingv, lies in the thrust exerted by the African plate north against the European plate which then splits into smaller plates, such as the Adriatic, which move in various directions exerting more pressure.

For this reason, said Carlo Doglioni, president of Ingv, all of northern Italy “suffers a contraction from north to south that can go from less than one millimeter per year in the Lombardy area to about two millimeters towards the Friuli area.”

“The failures in the Milan area – he added – are different and for now your activity has been contained as history shows. Certainly, the most dangerous areas of the peninsula are found along the Apennines; however, we cannot exclude anything ”.

Earthquakes in Lombardy, the precedents

Earthquakes of a certain size in Lombardy are rare: as Luzi recalled, “the last most significant earthquake in the area was in 1951 in the Lodi area and it had reached a magnitude of 5.4 on the Richter scale ”.

In Milanese instead, “historically, resentments from other earthquakes that occur further afield, such as the 2012 one in Mirandola, are felt more. Looking back over the centuries, you can see an effect similar to Thursday. in 1473, with the uncertainties of the case of course ”.

VIRGILIO NEWS | 12-18-2020 11:39

Photo source: ANSA