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The 1980 Irpinia earthquake () took place in
The earthquake struck at 18:34 UTC (19:34
Archived
2009-05-06.
INGV – sismica Map
Memory and Images Earthquake 1980
INGV page on the earthquake
!-- Click on Comm. for more details --> * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Irpinia Earthquake, 1980 1980 disasters in Europe 1980 in Italy 1980s disasters in Italy 1980 earthquakes 20th century in Campania Disasters in Campania 1980 Irpinia earthquake Guardia Lombardi November 1980 in Europe Province of Avellino
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
on 23 November 1980, with a moment magnitude of 6.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). It left at least 2,483 people dead, at least 7,700 injured, and 250,000 homeless
Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...
.
Earthquake
The earthquake struck at 18:34 UTC (19:34 local
Local may refer to:
Geography and transportation
* Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand
* Local, Missouri, a community in the United States
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...
), centered on the village of Castelnuovo di Conza, Campania
Campania is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy located in Southern Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian Peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islan ...
, Southern Italy
Southern Italy (, , or , ; ; ), also known as () or (; ; ; ), is a macroregion of Italy consisting of its southern Regions of Italy, regions.
The term "" today mostly refers to the regions that are associated with the people, lands or cultu ...
. The first jolt was followed by 90 aftershocks. There were three main shocks, each with epicenters in a different place, within 80 seconds. The largest shock registered a peak acceleration of 0.38 ''g'', with 10 seconds of motion greater than 0.1 ''g''. The three main shocks combined produced 70 seconds of shaking greater than 0.01 ''g''. Thus the shaking was severe and lasted a long time.
The focal mechanism corresponded to normal and significant left-lateral strike-slip movement. The rupture dimensions was estimated to be based on the aftershock distribution. The study of near-field strong motion and leveling records revealed a complex rupture process comprising three subevents. Overall, the rupture on complex fault systems propagated bilaterally along a mostly northwest–southeast trend.
Impact
Towns in theprovince of Avellino
The province of Avellino () is a province in the Campania
Campania is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy located in Southern Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian Peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea ...
were hit the hardest. In Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi, 300 were killed, including 27 children in an orphanage
An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or abusi ...
, and 80 percent of the town was destroyed and many historical buildings were left in ruins as the town never fully recovered as of 2021. One hundred were killed in Balvano when a medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
church collapsed during Sunday services. The towns of Lioni, Conza della Campania (near the epicenter), and Teora were destroyed, and dozens of structures in Naples were levelled, including a 10-story apartment building. Damage was spread over more than , including Naples
Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
and Salerno
Salerno (, ; ; ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Campania, southwestern Italy, and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after Naples. It is located ...
.''Italy: Avellino, Potenza, Caserta, Naples.''NOAA
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, charting the seas, conducting deep-sea exploratio ...
National Geophysical Data Center, Boulder (Colorado). Accessed 2009-04-07.Archived
2009-05-06.
Rebuilding
The Italian government spent 59 trillion lire (equivalent to € billion in ) on reconstruction, while other nations sent contributions.West Germany
West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
contributed 32 million United States dollar
The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...
s (USD) and the United States US$70 million.
However, in the early 1990s a major corruption
Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...
scandal emerged. Of the billions of lire that were earmarked for aid to the victims and rebuilding, the largest part disappeared from the earthquake reconstruction funds in the 1980s. Of the $40 billion spent on earthquake reconstruction, an estimated $20 billion went to create an entirely new social class
A social class or social stratum is a grouping of people into a set of Dominance hierarchy, hierarchical social categories, the most common being the working class and the Bourgeoisie, capitalist class. Membership of a social class can for exam ...
of millionaires in the region, $6.4 billion went to the criminal
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...
, whereas another $4 billion
Billion is a word for a large number, and it has two distinct definitions:
* 1,000,000,000, i.e. one thousand million, or (ten to the ninth power), as defined on the short scale. This is now the most common sense of the word in all varieties of ...
went to politicians in bribes. Only the remaining $9.6 billion
Billion is a word for a large number, and it has two distinct definitions:
* 1,000,000,000, i.e. one thousand million, or (ten to the ninth power), as defined on the short scale. This is now the most common sense of the word in all varieties of ...
, a quarter of the total amount, was actually spent on people's needs.
The entered the construction industry
Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the ...
after the quake.
See also
* List of earthquakes in 1980 * List of earthquakes in Italy * 1930 Irpinia earthquake *List of earthquakes in Irpinia
This is a list of earthquakes that have occurred in the Italian seismic district of Irpinia since the 15th century. It comprises all of the significant earthquakes whose epicenter was located in Irpinia, not those whose epicenter was outside the ...
Footnotes
Further reading
* *External links
INGV – sismica Map
Memory and Images Earthquake 1980
INGV page on the earthquake
!-- Click on Comm. for more details --> * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Irpinia Earthquake, 1980 1980 disasters in Europe 1980 in Italy 1980s disasters in Italy 1980 earthquakes 20th century in Campania Disasters in Campania 1980 Irpinia earthquake Guardia Lombardi November 1980 in Europe Province of Avellino