Northern Sicily, September 6, 2002earthquake: investigation on peculiarmacroseismic effects

Abstract

The Northern Sicily, September 6, 2002 earthquake (Ml = 5.6, MW = 5.9) is investigated under macroseismic aspect: peculiar effects are collected besides standard effects normally used to define Mercalli-Cancani-Sieberg (MCS) intensity. They include sound heard during the quake, fear felt and a simple qualitative description of ground movement felt. Spatial coverage of such information is dense enough to be statistically processed, to give an interpolated, smoothed field for each data type. Sound heard is compared with theoretical sound field produced considering source geometry and transmission of waves to air, it also confirms the Southern Sicily amplification disclosed by macroseismic intensity values. Fear felt is also in agreement with macroseismic intensity field while type of ground motion is a partly independent aspect.