6.89 magnitude earthquake in Irpinia, Italy

A massive earthquake rocked Irpinia, in southern Italy. It happened on November 23, 1980,at 18:34. 2914 people were killed, more than 10 000 were injured. and about 300 000 people were homeless.

The end at the north of the Irpinia fault ruptured, causing the earthquake.

The earthquake measured a magnitude of 6.89 on the Richter Scale.The towns that suffered the most damage were the towns in the Avellino province. Eighty percent of Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi had been destroyed and 300 people died, 27 of which were children from an orphanage.Structures in Naples had also been levelled. Naples and Salerno were among the places where damage was spread over 26 000 km².

For the reconstruction of buildings, the Italian government used 59 billion lire, whereas countries like the United States and Germany contributed money to assist them.

I think that the government should invest in earthquake engineering, and use simple roller bearing, like Japan does.Simple roller bearing is a device which isolates base to protect some building structures and non-building structures from the impact of strong earthquakes. The government can also build buildings that are strong enough to withstand the impact from the earthquake.


Bibliography

Websites

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Irpinia_earthquake

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_engineering

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119175885/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0