CFTI4Med

Catalogue of Strong Earthquakes in Italy (461 B.C.-1997) and Mediterranean Area (760 B.C.-1500)

The Catalogue lists earthquakes that occurred in Italy between 461 B.C. and 1997, and earthquakes that occurred in the general Mediterranean area between the VIII century b.C. and the XV century.

Italian earthquakes are based on the latest release of the Catalogo dei Forti Terremoti in Italia (Catalogue of Strong Italian Earthquakes), commonly referred to as CFTI3 (Boschi et al., 2000), with subsequent additions and improvements. The CFTI4 contains all Italian earthquakes having epicentral intensity VIII or larger and a selection of smaller earthquakes (total number of earthquakes: 1257). All data supplied in the Catalogue are based on ad hoc historical investigations and on specifically reinterpreted and discussed historical sources. Since its first 1995 release the Catalogo dei Forti Terremoti has been substantially extended and improved with respect to a) the earthquakes analyzed, b) the number of historical sources considered, and c) the number of assessed intensities. The following diagrams illustrate the improvements between 1995 and 2007.

Mediterranean earthquakes are based on two catalogues: the Catalogue of Ancient Earthquakes in the Mediterranean area up to the 10th century (Guidoboni et al., 1994), containing 300 earthquakes that involved 19 present-day countries around the Mediterranean, and on the Catalogue of Earthquakes and Tsunamis in the Mediterranean area from the 11th to the 15th century (Guidoboni and Comastri, 2005), containing 383 earthquakes relative to 19 countries. Overall the CFTI4 containes 1,739 earthquakes, 482 of which occurred outside of Italy. Both catalogues report historical sources in their original language.

The Catalogue is accessible through a specifically designed web-GIS interface. All commands are easy to use and fully described in English in the Help section. Due to the nature and history of the Catalogue, however, the comment texts that accompany all Italian earthquakes are currently available only in Italian.

To allow their visualization in the web-GIS environment of the Catalogue, data on Mediterranean earthquakes have been reorganized following the same standards and format as the data on Italian earthquakes. Nevertheless, some of the information available for Italian earthquakes may not be readily available for all Mediterranean earthquakes.

General information on the adopted method of historical research and on the structure and contents of the Catalogue is given in a series of articles published in a special issue of ANNALI DI GEOFISICA (vol.43, N. 4, August 2000) along with CFTI3 (Boschi et al., 2000). Although there have been significant advancements since the year 2000, these articles describe satisfactorily the main research issues, most of which are still the object of scientific debate.

Following is a list of these articles:

A «new generation» earthquake catalogue
Enzo Boschi
Method of investigation, typology and taxonomy of the basic data: navigating between seismic effects and historical contexts
Emanuela Guidoboni
The effects of earthquakes in historical cities: the peculiarity of the italian case
Emanuela Guidoboni and Graziano Ferrari
Historical variables of seismic effects: economic levels, demographic scales and building techniques
Emanuela Guidoboni and Graziano Ferrari
Seismic scenarios and assessment of intensity: some criteria for the use of the MCS scale
Graziano Ferrari and Emanuela Guidoboni
Reducing the subjectivity of the intensity estimates: the Fuzzy Set approach
Gianfranco Vannucci, Paolo Gasperini and Graziano Ferrari
Deriving numerical estimates from descriptive information: the computation of earthquake parameters
Paolo Gasperini and Graziano Ferrari
Earthquake effects on the environment: from historical descriptions to thematic cartography
Gianluca Valensise and Emanuela Guidoboni
From earthquake intensities to earthquake sources: extending the contribution of historical seismology to seismotectonics studies
Paolo Gasperini and Gianluca Valensise
«Unknown» earthquakes: a growing contribution to the Catalogue of Strong Italian Earthquakes
Dante Mariotti, Alberto Comastri and Emanuela Guidoboni
Towards new research strategies: silent seismogenetic areas or silent sources?
Gianluca Valensise and Emanuela Guidoboni
Introduction to appendices
Appendix A
Earthquake of 30 April 1279, Umbria-Marche Apennines
Appendix B
Earthquakes of 27 March and 8 June 1638
Earthquakes parameters and epicentral maps by historical period

References

Boschi, E., G. Ferrari, P. Gasperini, E. Guidoboni, G. Smriglio and G. Valensise (eds) (1995). Catalogo dei Forti Terremoti in Italia dal 461 a.C. al 1980 (ING, Roma - SGA, Bologna), pp. 973, with database on CD-ROM (CFTI1).

Boschi, E., E. Guidoboni, G. Ferrari, G. Valensise and P. Gasperini (eds) (1997). Catalogo dei Forti Terremoti in Italia dal 461 A.C. al 1990 (ING, Roma - SGA, Bologna), pp. 644, with database on CD-ROM (CFTI2).

Boschi, E., E. Guidoboni, G. Ferrari, D. Mariotti, G. Valensise and P. Gasperini (eds) (2000). Catalogue of Strong Italian Earthquakes, Ann. Geofis., 43 (4), pp. 268, with database on CD-ROM (CFTI3).

CPTI Working Group (2004). Catalogo Parametrico dei Terremoti Italiani, version 2004 (CPTI04). INGV, Milan, available from http://emidius.mi.ingv.it/CPTI/.

Guidoboni, E., A. Comastri and G. Traina (1994). Catalogue of Ancient Earthquakes in the Mediterranean area up to the 10th century, vol. 1, ING-SGA, Bologna 1994, 504 pp.

Guidoboni, E., and A. Comastri (2005). Catalogue of Earthquakes and Tsunamis in the Mediterranean area from the 11th to the 15th century, vol. 2, INGV-SGA, Bologna 2005, 1037 pp.

Disclaimer

This Catalogue was designed as "work in progress", and as such it is open to later additions and improvements. For these reasons and due to its intrinsic nature, the Catalogue cannot be guaranteed to be complete, accurate and updated in any part, and will be subjected to successive revisions. Although the authors of the Catalogue make every effort to supply the best available information on the historical earthquakes contained in it, no warranty, expressed or implied, is provided as to the accuracy and reliability of all the data supplied. Conclusions drawn from this Catalogue, or actions undertaken on the basis of its contents, are the sole responsibility of the user.

For further information the reader may proceed to the Catalogue and consult the accompanying materials, or refer to the papers contained in Boschi et. al (2000); for the Mediterranean area the reader may refer to the Introduction to the volume by Guidoboni (1994) and Guidoboni and Comastri (2005).

Credits: Catalogue contents

Project layout:

Emanuela Guidoboni, Graziano Ferrari, Gianluca Valensise

Coordination of historical investigations and elaborations:

Emanuela Guidoboni

Main collaborators:

- for the Antiquity and the Middle Ages: Alberto Comastri, Cecilia Ciuccarelli and Marco Pistoresi

- for the Modern and Contemporary era: Dante Mariotti, Martino Ferrarese, Roberto Benedetti and Maria Luisa De Simone

Logic structure of basic data and elaborations:

Graziano Ferrari and Emanuela Guidoboni

Investigations of historical toponymy:

Dante Mariotti and Gabriele Tarabusi

Interpretation of damage data and intensity assessment:

Dante Mariotti, Graziano Ferrari, Alberto Comastri and Emanuela Guidoboni

Geo-referencing:

Dante Mariotti, Gabriele Tarabusi and Maria Giovanna Bianchi

Earthquake parameterization:

Graziano Ferrari and Gabriele Tarabusi

How to cite the Catalogue:

Guidoboni E., G. Ferrari, D.Mariotti, A.Comastri, G.Tarabusi and G.Valensise 2007 - CFTI4Med, Catalogue of Strong Earthquakes in Italy (461 B.C.-1997) and Mediterranean Area (760 B.C.-1500). INGV-SGA. Available from http://storing.ingv.it/cfti4med/.

Credits: Web-site

This website has been designed and developed by SGA Storia Geofisica Ambiente Srl:

Web Project Manager:

Graziano Ferrari

Preparation of main data tables:

Gabriele Tarabusi

Database structure and management:

Gabriele Tonelli

GIS engineering:

Gabriele Tonelli

Web interface development:

Gabriele Tonelli

Earthquake Info module:

Edoardo Dusi

Google Earth module:

Gabriele Tarabusi

Flash Charts module:

Stefano Fabbri