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2009-04-06 Mw 6.3 CENTRAL ITALY

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Magnitude	Mw 6.3
Region	CENTRAL ITALY
Date time	2009-04-06 01:32:41.4 UTC
Location	42.38 N ; 13.32 E
Depth	2 km
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Witness location : 5 Km W L'Aquila (Italy) (3 km S from epicenter)

i pensibili appesi al muro sono volati in aria e ricaduti a terra in piedi ma completamente rovesciati

Witness location : 9 Km S Pizzoli (Italy) (4 km SW from epicenter)

lo stato continua a lucrare su questo evento terribile; il comune rassicurava che fossero aolamente scosse di assestamento. dopo l'evento principale, a distanza di un po di tempo, si è verificata una scossa di magnitudo 4,6 e non sono state effettuati nuovi sopralluoghi mettendo in grave pericolo ogni abitante della zona. sono state considerate agibili case gravemente danneggiate nelle strutture portanti.

Witness location : L'Aquila (Italy) (7 km SE from epicenter)

E' durato molto tempo e ha dato l'impressione di dare due scosse finali prima di fermarsi

Witness location : L'Aquila (Italy) (7 km SE from epicenter)

inimmaginabile ed indescrivibile. Tutto quello scritto sembra riduttivo.

Witness location : L'Aquila (Italy) (7 km SE from epicenter)

non riuscivano a trovare una via di fuga; in ogni vicolo e viuzza continuavano a cadere balconi, cornicioni e facciate

Witness location : L'Aquila (Italy) (7 km SE from epicenter)

ci è sembrato che il sisma sia cominciato in senso sussultorio e poi abbia acquistato forza e si sia trasformato in ondulatorio ( quasi rotativo ) e sicuramente con magnitudo superiore a quella riportata

Witness location : L'Aquila (Italy) (7 km SE from epicenter)

ho notato durante la scossa delle 03:32 che la terra si è mossa in tutte le direzioni e cioè che ha avuto un movimento sussultorio ondulatorio e di torsione pareva  che la casa si stesse girando infatti rientrando in seguito nell'appartamento ho visto l'unicomobile che non è caduto girato su di un lato.

Witness location : L'Aquila (Italy) (7 km SE from epicenter)

il movimento della scossa era come fosse sussultorio e oscillatorio comtemporaneo e anche torsivo, un pò come quando si ha il mal di mare.

Witness location : L'Aquila (Italy) (7 km SE from epicenter)

oltre all'effetto d rotazione e di rollio si vvertiva anche il movimento sussultorio e ondulatorio

Witness location : L'Aquila (Italy) (7 km SE from epicenter)

ho trovato un armadio pesante ruotato di pochi gradi rispetto al muro ma solo da una parte

Witness location : L'Aquila (Italy) (7 km SE from epicenter)

non e' stato un terremoto,ho avuto la sensazione di una forte esplosione ,poi il teremoto

Witness location : L'Aquila (Italy) (7 km SE from epicenter)

mobili sono ruotati

Witness location : L'Aquila (Italy) (7 km SE from epicenter)


le case si muovevano come se fosse gomma,le strade si muovevano come se fossero serpenti ecc...

Witness location : L'Aquila (Italy) (7 km SE from epicenter)

nessun commento non vali nulla a suo confronto

Witness location : 1 Km E L'Aquila (Italy) (8 km SE from epicenter)

a fost ingrozitor/ceva de nedescris/un cosmar ce si acum dupa atatea luni nul pot uita

Witness location : 3 Km SE L'Aquila (Italy) (10 km SE from epicenter)

Riguardo allo spostamento dei mobili visto che ero nei pressi dell'epicentro rappresento che si sono spostati praticamente tutti, anche di un metro, salvo un comò con specchiera (peraltro la specchiera è fissata in modo relativamente precario al mobile e non al muro e non è caduta)cui comunque si sono aperti tutti i cassetti, ed un armadio a tre ante alto 2,40 mt.

Witness location : Secinaro (Italy) (39 km SE from epicenter)

The local church almost collapsed

Witness location : Valle Castellana (Italy) (41 km N from epicenter)

prima della scossa si è avvertito un forte boato, poi la terra ha iniziato a tremare in modo molto violento, non finiva mai la scossa, che incubo.

Witness location : Campli (Italy) (48 km NE from epicenter)

Keep your doors OPEN. During an earthquake is almost impossible to open doors;

I reccomend also to keep the main door of your home open to escape after the earthquake.

Witness location : 1 Km E Catignano (Italy) (53 km E from epicenter)

i danni sono stati causati dalla durata dell'evento

Witness location : Collecorvino (Italy) (58 km E from epicenter)

terrible..

Witness location : 5 Km E Sulmona (Italy) (66 km SE from epicenter)

I think that it take place in two times of equal duration, in the first time the eartquake was more slowly. i didn't realized quikly what was happen i supposed only that was strong and very extended in time, the eartquake is lasted about 30 second so i was a bit allarmed during it, however i was sure that my house was antisismic.

Witness location : Montesilvano (Italy) (68 km E from epicenter)

le persone al piano terra delle case adiacenti erano fuori

Witness location : Chieti (Italy) (69 km E from epicenter)

..sentia el edificio moverse mucho,oscilar y tremar,estaba en la cama que golpeaba fuerte contra la pared y no me podia mover por el miedo!

Witness location : Chieti (Italy) (69 km E from epicenter)

My family was allerted and in a few seconds we mouved in a safe place of the house. I aspected it and commented with people in the previous days as there were several foreshocks.

Witness location : Pescara (Italy) (74 km E from epicenter)

Sì, bisogna prestare massima attenzione al momento della scossa. Mettersi al riparo e aspettare che finisca, è la cosa più importante da fare. Al termine fuggire dall'edificio in cui ti trovi.

Il 6 aprile 2009: ore 3:32, la terra trema. L'esperienza che ho vissuto non l'auguro a nessuno. Un terrore in piena angoscia. Appena mi si è mosso il letto mi sono alzato di scatto, mi faceva male forte la testa, oltre all'emicrania si aggiungeva il mal di stomaco. Le ante dell'armadio si aprivano e si chiudevano, i cassetti idem, i dvd e i libri sulla mie mensole cadevano. Un boato terribile accompagnava la scossa. La scossa sembrava sempre più potente. La luce che andava via e poi ritornava. Appena alzato incominciai ad urlare, scappando di quà e di là per la casa. Non sapevo cosa fare. Tremavo, avevo paura. Nel frattempo la scossa continuava, ed è continuata così per un minuto e mezzo. Dopo mi sono vestito e sono scappato in strada, ho aspettato lì fino alle 5:30. Con cautela sono rientrato a casa. Non potrò mai scordare il terrore di quella notte, che per me è stata la più brutta di tutta la mia vita.

Rispettate i criteri di sicurezza durante il terremoto, e salverete la vostra vita.

Witness location : Francavilla al Mare (Italy) (76 km E from epicenter)

est-ovest ondulation motion for 25 seconds

Witness location : 90 Km Rome (Italy) (76 km NW from epicenter)

Within an hour after the main wave, I felt maybe another couple of slight quakes. I was in bed and could feel it slightly through the matress.

Witness location : Rome (Italy) (87 km SW from epicenter)

In zone sismiche costruire esclusivamente case antisismiche.

Witness location : Rome (Italy) (87 km SW from epicenter)

In Rome we felt the first L'Aquila earthquake on the 6th April very strongly. It lasted for around 20-30 seconds and the building we live in swayed on its foundations. Talking to neighbours the following day (who live on the 9th floor) told me that the swaying was much more violent with them (obviously) being higher. We have felt subsequent tremors in the days since, some more strongly than others...

Witness location : Rome (Italy) (87 km SW from epicenter)

in 30 seconds life of many people of l'aquila changed forever, 207 persons died and 1500 wounded and it's terrible and earth continues shaking ...shaking and shaking

Witness location : 4 Km SW Rome (Italy) (91 km SW from epicenter)

Noise: a vibration acting upon windows glasses like when there is a big diesel motor. 



Timing and Duration: it lasted about 20-30 seconds and it was at its peak between 3:33:28 and 3:33:33 (I looked at the radio-controlled watch, used for astronomical observations in order to memorize the time of the event).

The beginning could have been 10 seconds before (3:33:18) and the end could have been 5 s after (3:33:43), but .



Chandelier's oscillations: I measured the oscillations' amplitude (from one extreme to the other) of the chandelier: at 3:43 local time, 10 minutes after the shock the amplitude was 15 mm. The oscillation of the chandelier was along the NE-SW direction (and from this fact I could verify that the earthquake was coming from Appennines and not from mount Albano, before checking EMSC website). 

Later I have produced another oscillation with the same chandelier, starting from 10 cm after 10 minutes it reaches a 15 mm oscillation. Therefore I can affirm that the initial amplitude was about 10 cm, so the house oscillated about 5 cm at the passage of the seismic waves. 



Objects motion: I leave at the ground floor of an house in Rome, above the Monteverde's hill at 65 m above sea level, and nothing felt or moved during the earthquake. 



Neighbourhood: I heard my neighbours of first floor moving, not speaking, and after some car alarm (far) and only one person at its window of the houses in front of me.



Personal impressions:

I was at bed, turning, when I heard the noise and felt a shake, my parents and my syster did not wake up; their beds lie perpendicularly to my bed which is NNE-SSW oriented; I realized that it was an earthquake, I was frightened, I put on the shoes to run out, but I remained sitting on the bed because the exit is far and well closed and all my family was sleeping and I could not save them, so I prayed saying "Lord Save us!" quoting the same words pronounced by Francesco Bianchini on February 2nd, 1703 when experienced an earthquake being at the Basilica of s. Maria degli Angeli in Rome (I work there as astronomer). This 1703 earthquake struck down l'Aquila too.



I decided to contribute with my report only 2 weeks after the event (april 20) in order to clarify the intensity effects of this earthquake in Rome, but the data are the same reported on my observations' notebook.



Interesting news found on the effects of the earthquake in Rome:

The day after in my neighbourhood a man had an hearthstroke and died in via Ingrassia in the occasion of the second big shock at 17:47 UT of april 6, but I was not at home and I did not feel this event at all, while my parents, sitting on the armchairs have felt a shake coming from NE and they have seen oscillations of chandeliers, again nothing felt down.

A building has been evacuated in via Andrea Doria in Rome for some damages.

Costantino Sigismondi, Physics Department., Sapienza University of Rome, <a href='http://www.icra.it/solar' target='_blank' >www.icra.it/solar</a>   sigismondi@icra.it

Witness location : 12 Km SW Rome (Italy) (99 km SW from epicenter)

It came from underneath, a very loud rumbling, it made our very heavy wardrobe rattle, and the bed jerk up and down, as if it was being lifted up and down very quickly. As it died down, the movement changed to swaying from side to side.



The noise was frightening, a groaning slowly being released to get louder.



Other previous tremors have not been had such jerking movements, just swaying from side to side of the bed.

Witness location : Latina (Italy) (107 km S from epicenter)

Around half past 3 a.m. I distinctly felt the bed trembling and the whole house shaking, much like a tree when a strong wind is blowing, and a window opened, too. This happened two times in a short interval, the second time in a stronger and more persistent way: it was 3:34 a.m.

Witness location : Cupramontana (Italy) (120 km NW from epicenter)

I wasn't sleepping, and i saw the electric-light pendant start to swing. When i stand up nothing happen on my feet.

Witness location : 2 Km S Paciano (Italy) (124 km NW from epicenter)

It woke both my wife and myself.  I am a light sleeper, but my wife sleeps very heavily.  Shook loose hangers in closet.  No other apparent results.

Witness location : Naples (Italy) (187 km SE from epicenter)

era avvertibile che le onde sismiche provenivano da lontano, lo scuotimento era ad onda lunga  ovvero la frequenza delle singole onde era al massimo di due al secondo

Witness location : Naples (Italy) (188 km SE from epicenter)

ricordo che dormivo, mi sono svegliato con la sensazione che qualcuno mi dondolasse, appena resomi conto che era un terremoto e riattivati i sensi dal sonno mi sono accorto che la porta blindata di casa si muoveva facendo rumore, allora mi sono alzato ed ho svegliato i miei genitori, si sono messi in piedi e la casa si muoveva ancora per la scossa, ho sentito i vicini aprire la porta, nel frattempo mi sono soffermato a sentire il terremoto e mi sono accorto che il movimento era molto prolungato ma con una frequenza breve al massimo due/tre oscillazioni in un secondo, questo mi ha fatto pensare che il terremoto non si era generato nelle immediate vicinanze di dove vivo e che quindi doveva essere molto forte nella zona epicentrale. Ricordo che la scossa l'ho avvertita sicuramente per più di un minuto

Witness location : 116 Km NE Acquaviva Picena (Italy) (188 km NE from epicenter)

the apartment shook  for about 40 seconds and gradually got stronger and stronger, outside I could hear things crackling and falling from the nearby buildings. I expected aftershocks and they sure enough they came about 40 minutes later.

Witness location : Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) (443 km E from epicenter)

I was lying in my bed and it was like someone swayed my bed a little bit... and since there was an earthquake few days before in B&H that I felt nicely, I knew about this web site, so I visited it and saw that I really felt the earthquake in Italy...

Witness location : Frejus (France) (551 km W from epicenter)

Nuit du 5 au 6 avril 2009: insomniaque ,j'ai ressenti une dizaine de petites secousses saccadées, j'avais la tête sur l'oreiller.J'ai tout de suite pensé à un tremblement de terre, car c'était "rythmé"; c'est le 4ème de ma vie. J'ai 68 ans ;je suis professeur à la retraite. J'ai ,ce matin, eu confirmation en écoutant la radio.FREJUS est assez loin de L'AQUILA...mais mon ressenti a été net et précis.