Geotechnical Aspects of the 20th May, 2012 M5.9 Emilia Earthquake, Italy

At 02:03:52 UTC (04:03 local time) of May 20th, 2012 a strong shaking was felt in the Emilia-Romagna Region, in Northern Italy. The magnitude estimates for this event are reported in Table 1. The epicenter was characterized by coordinates 44.89° (latitude) and 11.23° (longitude). The depth of the hypocenter has been estimated as 6.3 km (INGV). The focal mechanism is that associated with a thrust rupture. Figure 13 shows the mechanisms of the events, which occurred from May 20 through May 23. They had a magnitude ranging from 3.4 to 5.9. The movement involved East-West oriented faults with North-South compression. 

 Among the most significant topics of the document:

• Some preliminary results about the site effects observed at the Mirandola station;
• Testing of susceptibility to liquefaction conducted also in light of the Technical Regulations of 2008;
• Results of the geophysical investigation carried out by the GEO team, one week after the first event;

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