Recorded Motions of the Mw6.3 April 6, 2009 L’Aquila (Italy) Earthquake and Implications for Building Structural Damage: Overview.

The normal-faulting earthquake of 6 April 2009 in the Abruzzo Region of
central Italy caused heavy losses of life and substantial damage to centuriesold
buildings of significant cultural importance and to modern reinforcedconcrete-
framed buildings with hollow masonry infill walls. Although
structural deficiencies were significant and widespread, the study of the
characteristics of strong motion data from the heavily affected area indicated
that the short duration of strong shaking may have spared many more damaged
buildings from collapsing. It is recognized that, with this caveat of shortduration
shaking, the infill walls may have played a very important role in
preventing further deterioration or collapse of many buildings. It is concluded
that better new or retrofit construction practices that include reinforcedconcrete
shear walls may prove helpful in reducing risks in such seismic areas
of Italy, other Mediterranean countries, and even in United States, where there
are large inventories of deficient structures.

Akkar, S., and Bommer, J. J., 2007. Prediction of elastic displacement response spectra in Europe
and the Middle East, Earthquake Eng. Struct. Dyn. 36, 1275–1301.
Amato, A., Badiali, L., Cattaneo, M., Delladio, A., Doumaz, F., and Mele, F. M., 2006. The
real-time earthquake monitoring system in Italy, Review of Geosciences, BRGM 4, 70–75.
Ameri, G., Massa, M. P., Bindi, D., D’Alema, E., Gorini, A., Luzi, L., Marzorati, S., Pacor, F.,
Paolucci, R., Pugli, R., and Smerzini, C., 2009. The April 6 2009, Mw 6.3 L’Aquila (Central
Italy) earthquake: strong-motion observations, Seismol. Res. Lett. 80, 951–966.
Amoruso, A., Crescentini, L., and Scarpa, R., 1998. Inversion of source parameters from nearand
far-field observations: An application of the 1915 Fucina earthquake, Central Appennines,
Italy, J. Geophys. Res. 103, B12 29989–29999.
APAT, 2006. Carta Geologica d’Italia alla scala 1:50.000—Foglio n. 359 “L’Aquila,” S. EL.
CA, Firenze.
Atzori, S., Hunstad, I., Chini, M., Salvi, S., Tolomei, C., Bignami, C., Stramondo, S., Trasetti,
E., Antonioli, A., and Boschi, E., 2009. Finite fault inversion of DinSAR coseismic displacement
of the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake (central Italy), Geophys. Res. Lett. 36, L15305, doi:
Azzara, R., Bordoni, P., Cara, F., Cultrera, G., Di Giulio, G., Milana, G., Rovelli, A., D’Alema,
E., Luzi, L., Marzorati, S., Pacor, F., Augliera, P., Puglia, R., Ameri, G., Massa, M., Gallipoli,
M. R., Harabaglia, P., Mucciarelli, M., Pilz, M., Di Giacomo, D., Picozzi, M., Parolai,
S., 2009. Report on “Valle dell’Aterno” experiment for site effects evaluation, from: http://
portale.ingv.it/primo-piano/archivio-primo-piano/notizie-2009/terremoto-6-aprile/
copy_of_la-sequenza-sismica-dell-aquilano-aprile-2009/.
Bertero, V. V., 1992. Lesson learned from recent catastrophic earthquakes and associated research,
Primera Conferencia Internacional Torroja 1989, Madrid 1992, 69 pp.
Boore, D. M., Joyner, W. B., and Fumal, T. E., 1997. Equations for estimating horizontal response
spectra and peak acceleration from western North American earthquakes: A summary
of recent work, Seismol. Res. Lett. 68, 128–153.
Calderoni, B., Cordasco, E. A., Giubileo, C., and Migliaccio, L., 2009. Preliminary Report on
Damages Suffered by Masonry Buildings in Consequence of the L’Aquila Earthquake of 6th
April 2009, http://www.reluis.it.
Canbolat, B., Soydas, O., and Yakut, A., 2009. Influence of shear wall index on the seismic
performance of reinforced concrete buildings, Proceedings, Earthquake and Tsunami Con.,
22–24 June 2009, Istanbul, Turkey.
Campbell, K. W., and Bozorgnia, Y., 2008. NGA ground motion model for the geometric mean
horizontal component of PGA, PGV, PGD and 5% damped linear elastic response spectra for
periods ranging from 0.01 to 10 s, Earthquake Spectra 24, 139–172.
Chiarabba, C., Amato, A., Anselmi, M., Chiaraluce, L., Ciaccio, M. G., DeGori, P., De Luca,
G., Di Bona, M., Di Stefano, R., Faenza, A., Govoni, A., Importa, L., Lucenti, F. P., Marchetti,
A., Margheriti, L., Mele, F., Michelini, A., Monachesi, G., Moretti, M., Pastori, M.,
Piana Agostinetti, N., Piccinini, D., Roselli, P., Seccia, D., and Valoroso, L., 2009. The 2009
L’Aquila (central Italy) Mw 6.3 earthquake: main shock and aftershocks, Geophys. Res. Lett.
36, doi:
Chioccarelli, E., De Luca, F., Iervolino, I., 2009. Preliminary Study of L’Aquila Earthquake
Ground Motion Records v5.20, http://www.reluis.it.
Decanini, L., Liberatore, L., Mollaioli, F., Monti, G., Omar Al Shawa, O., 2009. L’Aquila earth-quake of 6 April 2009: Preliminary Study on Elastic and Inelastic Energy, Displacement and
Strength Demands, [in Italian: Terremoto Aquilano del 6 Aprile 2009. Studio preliminare
della domanda sismica elastica ed anelastica in termini di energia, spostamento e forze (Rel.
1.0)], http://www.reluis.it.
Decreto Ministeriale (DM), 1996a, Norme tecniche per il calcolo, l’esecuzione ed il collaudo
delle strutture in cemento armato, normale e precompresso e per le strutture metalliche,
Supplemento ordinario alla Gazzetta Ufficiale, n.29 del 5 febbraio 1996.
Decreto Ministeriale (DM), 1996b. Norme tecniche per le costruzioni in zone sismiche, Supplemento
ordinario alla Gazzetta Ufficiale, n.29 del 5 febbraio 1996.
Di Capua, G., Lanzo, G., Luzi, L., Pacor, F., Paolucci, R., Peppoloni, S., Scasserra, G., and
Puglia, R., 2009. Caratteristiche geologiche e classificazione di sito delle stazioni accelerometriche
della RAN ubicate a L’Aquila, http://esse4.mi.ingv.it/images/stories/
Classificazione_Sito_Stazioni_RAN_AQ.pdf.
De Luca, G., Marcucci, S., Milana, G., and Sanó, T., 2005. Evidence of low-frequency amplification
in the city of L’Aquila, central Italy, through a multidisciplinary approach including
strong-and-weak-motion data, ambient noise, and numerical modeling, Bull. Seismol. Soc.
Am. 95, 1469–1481.
Ellsworth, W. L., Çelebi, M., Evans, J. R., Jensen, E. G., Kayen, R., Metz, M. C., Nyman, D. J.,
Roddick, J. W., Spudich, P., and Stephens, C. D., 2004. Near-field ground motion of the 2002
Denali Fault, Alaska, earthquake recorded at Pump Station 10, Earthquake Spectra 20, 597–
615.
EMERGEO Working Group, 2010. Evidence for surface rupture associated with the Mw 6.3
L’Aquila earthquake sequence of April 2009 (central Italy), Terra Nova, in press.
Ersoy, U., and Tankut, T., 1996. Az Katlı Yapıların Deprem Tasarımına I˙lis¸kin Bir Öneri (in
Turkish: A proposal for earthquake resistant design of low-rise building]), I˙MO Dergisi
(Chamber of Turkish Civil Engineers Bulletin), No. 386.
European Committee for Standardization (EC8), 2004. Eurocode 8: Design of Structures for
Earthquake Resistance—Part 1: General Rules, Seismic Actions and Rules for Buildings,
European Standard EN1998–1, Brussels.
Faccioli, E., Anastasopoulos, I., Gazetas, G., Callerio, A., Paolucci, R., 2008. Fault rupturefoundation
interaction: selected case histories, Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering 6, 557–
583.
Galli, P., and Camassi, R., 2009. Rapporta sugli effetti del terremoto aquilano del 6 aprile 2009,
Rapporto congiunto DPC-INGV, http://portale.ingv.it/real-time-monitoring/quest/
macrodef_sito.pdf, 12 pp.
Geo-Engineering Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER), 2009. Preliminary Report on the
Seismological and Geotechnical Aspects of the 6 April 2009 L’Aquila Earthquake in Central
Italy (version 2.0), GEER Association Report No. GEER-016, September 2009, http://
www.geerassociation.org/GEER_Post%20EQ%20Reports%Italy_2009/
Cover_Italy2009_Rev.html.
Graizer, V., and Kalkan, E., 2007. Ground motion attenuation model for peak horizontal acceleration
from shallow crustal earthquakes, Earthquake Spectra 23, 585–613.
Gülkan, P., and Sozen, M., 1999. Procedure for determining seismic vulnerability of building
structures, ACI Struct. J. 96, 336–342.
Hassan, A. F., and Sozen, M. A., 1994. Seismic vulnerability assessment of low-rise buildings
in regions with infrequent earthquakes, ACI Struct. J. 94, 31–39.Mazza, S., Olivieri, M., Mandiello, M., and Casale, P., 2008. The Mediterranean Broad Band
Seismographic Network Anno 2005/06, Earthquake Monitoring and Seismic Hazard Mitigation
in Balkan Countries, Sprinter Sciences + Business B. V. 2008.
Murty, C., Brzev, S., Falson, H., Comartin, C., and Irfanoglu, A., 2006. At risk: The seismic
performance of reinforced concrete buildings with masonry infill walls, World Housing Encyclopedia
No: WHO-2006–3, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, 83 pp.
Nakamura, Y., 1989. A method for dynamic characteristics estimation of subsurface using microtremor
on the ground surface, Q. Rept. Railway Technical Research Institute 30.
Nicoletti, M., 2009. Personal communication.
Norme Techniche per le Costruzioni (NTC), 2008. DM 14 gennaio 2008, Gazzetta Ufficiale, n.
29 del 4 febbraio 2008, Supplemento Ordinario n. 30, Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello
Stato, Roma.
Paolucci, R., and Smerzini, C., 2010. Strong ground motion in the epicentral region of the Mw
6.3, Apr 6 2009 L’Aquila earthquake, Italy, Proc. 5th Int. Conf. on Recent Advances in Geotechnical
Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics, San Diego, May 24–29 2010, advanced
copy of Special lecture EQ4.
Petti, L., and Morino, I., 2009. Preliminary Comparison Between Response Spectra Evaluated
at Close Source for L’Aquila Earthquake and Elastic Demand Spectra According to the New
Seismic Italian Code, http://www.reluis.it.
Power, M., Chiou, B., Abrahamson, N., and Roblee, C., 2006. The next generation of ground
motion attenuation models (NGA) project: An overview, in Proceedings, Eighth National
Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Paper No. 2022.
Rovida, A., Castelli, V., Camassi, R., and Stucchi, M., 2009. Terremoti storici nell’area colpita
dagli eventi sismici dell’aprile 2009, http://www.mi.ingv.it/eq/090406/storia.html.
Sabetta, F., and Pugliese, A., 1987. Attenuation of peak horizontal acceleration and velocity
from Italian strong-motion records, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 77, 1491–1513.
Sabetta, F., and Pugliese, A., 1996. Estimation of response spectra and simulation of nonstationary
earthquake ground motions, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 86, 337–352.
Sabetta, F., Rovelli, A., Celebi, M., and Rinaldis, D., 2009. Sequenza sismica dell’Abruzzo:
analisi delle registrazioni accelerometriche, ENEA- Energia Ambiente e Innovazione—N° 3,
in press.
Shiga, T., Shibata, A., and Takahashi, T., 1968. Earthquake damage and Wall Index of Reinforced
Concrete Buildings, Proceedings, Tohuki District Symposium, Architectural Institute
of Japan, No. 12, 29–32 (in Japanese).
Sucuoglu, H., Jury, R., Ozmen, A., Hopkins, D., Ozcebe, G., and Kubin, J., 2006. Developing
retrofit solutions for the residential building stock in Istanbul, Proceedings, 8NCEE, San
Francisco, Ca., 18–22 April 2006, Paper 572.
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), 2000. Implications for earthquake risk reduction in the United
States from the Kocaeli, Turkey earthquake of August 17, 1999 USGS Circular 1193, 62 pp.
Valensise, G., 2009. Alcune considerazioni sulla sismotettonica del terramoto del 6 aprile,
INGV Internal Report, valensise@ingv.it.
Verderame, G. M., Iervolino, I., and Ricci, P., 2009. Report on the Damages on Buildings Following
the Seismic Event of 6th of April 2009, V1.20, http://www.reluis.it.Ward, S. N., and Valensise, G. R., 1989. Fault parameters and slip distribution of the 1915
Avezzano, Italy earthquake derived from geodetic observations, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 79,
690–71.