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  • Southern Italian peninsula and Sicily
    Wednesday Feb 5, 1783
    1783 Calabrian earthquakes

    The Earthquake

    Southern Italian peninsula and Sicily
    Wednesday Feb 5, 1783

    This earthquake, with an estimated magnitude of 7.0, affected a large area including most of the southern Italian peninsula and shook the whole island of Sicily. Many villages were damaged and as many as 180 almost completely destroyed, with more than 25,000 casualties. A tsunami affected the coastline on both sides of the Straits of Messina, destroying the harbor walls at Messina. The earthquake had already caused widespread death and destruction in Messina. Homes were razed to the ground, the medieval Duomo was badly damaged and most of the historic buildings were reduced to rubble.




  • Southern Italian peninsula and Sicily
    Thursday Feb 6, 1783
    1783 Calabrian earthquakes

    This magnitude 6.2 event

    Southern Italian peninsula and Sicily
    Thursday Feb 6, 1783

    This magnitude 6.2 event occurred during the night following the first event and struck the area just to the southwest. Most of the damage and casualties appear to have been caused by a tsunami that was set off by a major collapse of Monte Pací into the sea near Scilla shortly after the earthquake. Many of Scilla's residents, frightened by the tremors of the previous day had moved onto the open beach for the night, where they were overwhelmed by the waves. The tsunami caused severe flooding in the town, reaching as far as 200 m inland, and there were more than 1500 deaths.




  • Southern Italian peninsula and Sicily
    Friday Feb 7, 1783
    1783 Calabrian earthquakes

    Severe damage extended 15 km along the front of the Serre Mountains

    Southern Italian peninsula and Sicily
    Friday Feb 7, 1783

    This event occurred at about midday 40 km NE of the first mainshock on the 5th. Severe damage extended 15 km along the front of the Serre Mountains, leveling all the villages between Acquaro and Soriano Calabro. The earthquake is thought to have involved the rupturing of the southern segment of the Serre fault that bounds the Mesima Basin.




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