As the rescue and recovery continues in Albania, questions have been raised about the dangers in one of the most seismically active regions of Europe.
The events were on 24 August (6.2), 26 October (6.1) and 30 October (6.6). They have all happened in a relatively small area of central Italy, about halfway between Rome and the Adriatic port of Ancona.
โItaly is one of the countries in the Mediterranean with the highest seismic risk,โ. The country lies where the African and Eurasian tectonic plates converge. They are moving together at a rate ofย 4-10mmย a year.
โThe highest seismicity is concentrated in the central-southern part of the peninsula, along the Apennine ridge, in Calabria and Sicily and in some northern areas, like Friuli, part of Veneto and western Liguria,โ.
The deadliest documented earthquake in Europe was on 28 December 1908, when a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in the Messina Strait killed 72,000 people. The only part of Italy with no significant seismic events is the island of Sardinia.