Fault line, geology played critical role

The earthquake that devastated villages in central Italy on Wednesday was triggered along a fault line that has tormented the Italian peninsula for centuries, making the country among the most quake- prone regions of Europe.

The magnitude- 6.2 quake, which left more than 150 people dead, occurred squarely within a band of “high seismic hazard” running along the axis of the north- south Apennines mountain range, according to the U. S. Geological Survey.

The centuries- old architecture in the region places it at even higher risk of damage and deaths. “Many of the towns feature stone construction, including a deep history of architecture dating back to Roman and in some cases Etruscan times,” the survey said in a statement.

The event fell between two relatively recent earthquakes along the same fault line.

In 2009, a magnitude- 6.3 earthquake leveled the village of L’Aquila, killing 295, injuring 1,000 and leaving 55,000 homeless.

In 1997, a magnitude- 6.0 quake occurred 30 miles northwest of there, leaving 11 dead and destroying 80,000 homes in the Marche and Umbria regions.

“There’s a lot of geological things going on in that particular part of Europe,” said Robert Sanders, a geophysicist with the survey. He said the area marks a collision between the Africa and Eurasia tectonic plates, with a fault line that crosses Sicily before running along the spine of the Italian boot.

Though the geological conditions make Italy and Greece most at risk for earthquakes in Europe, those countries pale in comparison with other regions, particularly the Pacific Rim where the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan and Chile are at high risk of very strong quakes, Sanders said.

MASSIMO PERCOSSI, AP A man is overcome amid the rubble after an earthquake in Amatrice, Italy, on Wednesday.