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EQECAT New Italy Earthquake Model

INTRODUCTION

Countries surrounding the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea such as Italy and Greece are the most seismically active part of Europe. Earthquake hazard is considered as one of the main natural catastrophe to affect Italy. Destructive earthquakes occur regularly in this country, resulting in significant economic losses and human casualties. In this century alone, earthquakes disasters have caused at least 135,000 deaths in Italy, mostly in the central and southern part of the country. Recent example of such earthquakes is the September 1997 Umbria earthquake in Central Italy, which is believed to be one of a series of earthquakes to have struck central Italy and was the most serious one to impact Italy since the destructive earthquake of November 1980, known as Irpinia Earthquake. The relatively large number of casualties and large economical losses in this country is due to both high seismic activity and high vulnerability of the built environment, particularly for old masonry buildings.

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