The Epicenter of the First Tions at Colfiorito for the First Earthquake Was Reportedly Near Shock Were 0.38G and O 44G the Village of Colfiorito
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EERI SPECIAL EARTHQUAKE REPORT -DECEMBER 1997 2 EERI SPECIAL EARTHQUAKE REPORT -DECEMBER' 997 The epicenter of the first tions at Colfiorito for the first earthquake was reportedly near shock were 0.38g and O 44g the village of Colfiorito. The horizontal and 0.38g venical; and earthquake sequence started on at Nocera Umbra 0.56g clnd 0.33g September 26, 1997, with a shock horizontal, 0.20g vertical. The of magnitude of Ml = 5.5/Mw = 5.7 peak ground accelerations for the at 2:33 AM local time (epicenter second shock at Colfiorit J were 43°01.75'N 12°51.08'EI. A larger 0.28g and 0.17g horizontal, and earthquake, ML = 5.8/Mw = 6.0, oc- 0.31 g vertical; and at Nccera curred about 10:40 AM local time, Umbra 0.56g and 0.50g hori- again with the epicenter at zontal, and 0.42g vertical.2 Colfiorito. Geotechnical Framework The epi- These earthquakes were part of an central area is in the Ape nnines, ongoing sequence of shocks. which run generally nortll-south in Colfiorito was the epicenter for a central Italy. The general area ML=5.1/Mw=5.3 event on Octo- consists of folded and thrusted ber 3, 1997, and again on October limestones, cherty limestones, 7 (ML=5.31. On October 12 the marly limestones, marly I:lays, and epicenter shifted to Sellano where marls which are part of t1e a Mo =4.5 event occurred, fol- Umbria-Marche unit. The forma- lowed by a ML = 5.4/Mw= 5.7 tions, which outcrop in elongated event on October 14. The most occurrences, date from t 1e Upper Figure 3 -This buflding in Nocera recently reported earthquake was a Triassic-lower Miocene clnd consti- Umbra illustrates typical damage to Mo=4.5 event on November 9, tute the bedrock. The m()re recent stone buildings in the region. 1997, with the epicenter in the formations are Upper Pleistocene- (photo: Tobriner) Sellano-Preci area. Holocene materials. The" are discontinuous to the pre11iously Ground Motions: The as yet noted material and occur typically the mountain range. In the broad unofficial peak ground accelera- in the topographic low troughs of epicentral area the geologic forma- tions are cut by a number of faults of general NNW-SSE direction. These are parallel to the main direction of the formations. There is a second system of faults with a transverse strike and important horizontal component of movement. Several geotechnical phenomena occurred. There were several surface ruptures in the epicentral area and in villages near the epicenter. The ruptures have a general orientation NNW-SSE and display a vertical displacement of from 2 to 15 cm. A number of rock falls occurred as a result of the earthquake. Many of these caused minor temporary disruption of traffic on roads, such Figure 4 -In Assisi, significant cracks had opened in the Piazza Inferiore as the closure of highway 209 on di S. Francesco, indicating earthquake-caused subsidence. The cracks the slope of Mt. Galloro. Near had been covered with plastic (foreground}. In this photo, soldiers are Foligno, authorities were afraid an beginning to string cables to stabilize the arcade to the right in the photo. entire hillside, the site of a (photo: Comerio) hermitage and a beautiful forest, 3 EERI SPECIAL EARTHQUAKE REPORT- DECEMBER 1997 4 EERI SPECIAL EARTHQUAKE REPORT -DECEMBER 1997 Similarly, hospitals continued to and properties. They WEre con- For the approximately 900 private treat newly injured people over a cerned about vandals arid deteri- buildings damaged in Assisi, the long period. This was particularly orating conditions, and 1:hey were value of the damage was esti- difficult in Foligno because the afraid that once they m()ved from mated to be about $1 billion. main hospital was damaged and the tents, the more perr1anent Extrapolating this to the roughly was operating from a temporary prefabricated housing would not be 9,000 private buildings damaged in Red Cross facility. At the same given to them. the region, the value of damage is time, buildings had to be re- approximately $10 billion, not inspected and re-evaluated for General Damage counting the cost to repair public safety multiple times, and relief buildings and churches. workers from the Protezione Civile Inspection statistics as ()f October could not ask people to go back 14, 1997, were made a vailable to into their homes until they felt the reconnaissance tean1. In 65 Past Mitigation Efforts secure that the aftershocks were towns (communes) in U rnbria, diminishing. This was not the case 30,985 private building~i had been The patina of age and our delight until the end of October, more inspected. Of thsse, 8,:: 96 were with the picturesque medieval than six weeks after the first structurally damaged and unin- nature of Umbria can be deceptive. earthquake. habitable. This is roughl'1 the Even the most famous monuments equivalent of the Ameri(:an "red should not be regarded as having Temporary Housing: About 13,000 tag" buildings. The Italic ns use a been built in a single campaign and people were housed in tents and rating system with 5 ca':egories: embalmed as perfect examples of small camper trailers. That number A = inhabitable their time. They have been altered is about 1 2 percent of the B = inhabitable wit 1 some and adapted, repaired and re- 110,000 inhabitants in 15 provisions shaped. When the church of S. communes (city/county areas). The C = partially usable Chiara threatened to collapse in government is building 28 sites for D = needs re-revie~v 1351 , flying buttresses were prefabricated housing, as people E = unusable. added to save it. They might be cannot stay in the tents and missed if they were now removed, trailers in winter. At the end of Public buildings, school~, and but the buttresses were added as October, the services for these churches were inspectelj and an ad hoc expediency. Similarly in sites were not complete and the tallied separately. Data 'IVere the old town of Nocera Umbra, central government would not available for 18-22 tOWIIS in the brick buttresses and abutments, allow the prefab homes to be region, and are described in the now beautifully weathered and inhabited without services. They table below. It is import3nt to note textured, were added to brace attempted to move the tent that about 24 percent o F the public buildings which were at risk. dwellers to hotels temporarily, as buildings and 1 7 percen t of the the weather turned cold and it schools were seriously <Iamaged, Assisi is famous for its beautiful began to snow, but the victims while more than half (5.~ percent) ironwork which decorates the refused to move. People were of the churches were urlusable exterior of most masonry buildings, afraid to be far from their homes because of severe damage. another mitigation technique (Fi~ure 5). Iron tie bars (tiranti or catene) and exterior wall anchors (chiavt1 were in use in the middle Table 1 Public Building Damage in the Foligno Region ages to insure structural stability. Documents record that they were used to repair seismically damaged Total structures after the Gualdo Tadino earthquake of 1 751 and the Camerino earthquake of 1799. By the time of the Valle del Topino 133 earthquake of January 13, 1832, tiranti and chiavi were standard 178 repairs and mitigation. Both were 439 liberally used on the badly damaged church and Basilica and 750 convent of S. Maria degli Angeli below the old town of Assisi. EERI SPECIAL EARTHQUAKE REPORT -DECEMBER 1997 Damage Observed: The area of major shaking was a rural region in the mountains. There were some newer one- and two-story concrete frame buildings, but no damage to them was observed. The buildings were typically resi- dential structures, some with commercial uses on the first floor . The observed damage was limited to cracking between different materials, i.e. the concrete and the infill hollow clay tile (HCT). The damage was minor and in no case was out-of-plane movement of the HCT infill noted. In Fabriano in the Marche Region, several four- to six-story structures Figure 5- Exterior anchors and tie bars on masonry buildings c~rea in public housing projects (repre- distinctive feature of Assisi vernacular architecture. These eally senting 300-500 units) had this mitigation efforts demonstrated their effectiveness in this quaJ~e. In this type of damage and the buildings photo, the wall on the right, with anchors and tie bars, is intat:t and had been vacated (Figure 6) .One plumb, while the un-anchored wall on the left is cracked and l'owing of the vacated buildings in Fabri- outward. (photo:Tobriner) ano had a vertical crack in a column. This might have been a pending spall. At a beam-column More modern mitigation is often Typical modern concret9 construc- joint, the reinforcing steel was hard to observe or evaluate. Many tion in the area consist~; of a exposed and spalling occurred. of the roofs of churches in Umbria concrete frame with a rnasonry have been strengthened by the use infill of hollow clay tile :HCT), In Foligno, we observed an eight- of reinforced concrete, a practice called terra cotta. The ~ICT was story concrete hotel building. We which is presently being debated in visible on the exterior Vlralls. In noted one column that had a verti- Italy. In the Basilica of S. Fran- many cases the bare H(:T was the cal crack at the second floor line. cesco, a damped steel beam was exterior finish.