A revision of the 1783?1784 Calabrian (southern Italy) tsunamis

International audienceSouthern Italy is one of the most tsunamigenic areas in the Mediterranean basin, having experienced during centuries a large number of tsunamis, some of which very destructive. In particular, the most exposed zone here is the Messina Straits separating the coasts of Calabria and Sicily that was the theatre of the strongest Italian events. In 1783?1785 Calabria was shaken by the most violent and persistent seismic crisis occurred in the last 2000 years. Five very strong earthquakes, followed by tsunamis, occurred in a short interval of time (February?March 1783), causing destruction and a lot of victims in a vast region embracing the whole southern Calabria and the Messina area, Sicily. In this study we re-examined these events by taking into account all available historical sources. In particular, we focussed on the 5 and 6 February 1783 tsunamis, that were the most destructive. As regards the 5 February event, we found that it was underestimated and erroneously considered a minor event. On the contrary, the analysis of the sources revealed that in some localities the tsunami effects were quite strong. The 6 February tsunami, the strongest one of the sequence, was due to a huge earthquake-induced rockfall and killed more than 1500 people in the Calabrian village of Scilla. For this event the inundated area and the runup values distribution were estimated. Further, the analysis of the historical sources allowed us to find three new tsunamis that passed previously unnoticed and that occurred during this seismic period. The first one occurred a few hours before the large earthquake of 5 February 1783. The second was generated by a rockfall on 24 March 1783. Finally, the third occurred on 9 January 1784, probably due to a submarine earthquake

Tsunami: alla scoperta dei maremoti

Tsunami è una parola giapponese che significa “onda (nami) nel porto (tsu)”, in quanto anticamente si osservava che alcune onde diventavano devastanti avvicinandosi alla costa. Il termine italiano usato per definire uno tsunami è maremoto, cioè una serie di onde che, superando l'abituale linea costiera, provocano danni all'interno dei porti, ma anche lungo tutta la costa e a volte nell’entroterra

A new version of the European tsunami catalogue: updating and revision

A new version of the European catalogue of tsunamis is presented here. It differs from the latest release of the catalogue that was produced in 1998 and is known as GITEC tsunami catalogue in some important aspects. In the first place, it is a database built on the Visual FoxPro 6.0 DBMS that can be used and maintained under the PC operating systems currently available. Conversely, the GITEC catalogue was compatible only with Windows 95 and older PC platforms. In the second place, it is enriched by new facilities and a new type of data, such as a database of pictures that can be accessed easily from the main screen of the catalogue. Thirdly, it has been updated by including the newly published references. Minute and painstaking search for new data has been undertaken to re-evaluate cases that were not included in the GITEC catalogue, though they were mentioned in previous catalogues; the exclusion was motivated by a lack of data. This last work has focused so far on Italian cases of the last two centuries. The result is that at least two events have been found which deserve inclusion in the new catalogue: one occurred in 1809 in the Gulf of La Spezia, and the other occurred in 1940 in the Gulf of Palermo. Two further events are presently under investigation

The Euro-Mediterranean Tsunami Catalogue

A unified catalogue containing 290 tsunamis generated in the European and Mediterranean seas since 6150 B.C. to current days is presented. It is the result of a systematic and detailed review of all the regional cata- logues available in literature covering the study area, each of them hav- ing their own format and level of accuracy. The realization of a single catalogue covering a so wide area and involving several countries was a complex task that posed a series of challenges, being the standardization and the quality of the data the most demanding. A “reliability” value was used to rate equally the quality of the data for each event and this pa- rameter was assigned based on the trustworthiness of the information related to the generating cause, the tsunami description accuracy and also on the availability of coeval bibliographical sources. Following these cri- teria we included in the catalogue events whose reliability ranges from 0 (“very improbable tsunami”) to 4 (“definite tsunami”). About 900 docu- mentary sources, including historical documents, books, scientific reports, newspapers and previous catalogues, support the tsunami data and de- scriptions gathered in this catalogue. As a result, in the present paper a list of the 290 tsunamis with their main parameters is reported. The online version of the catalogue, available at http://roma2.rm.ingv.it/en/faci lities/data_bases/52/catalogue_of_the_euro-mediterranean_tsunamis, provides additional information such as detailed descriptions, pictures, etc. and the complete list of bibliographical sources. Most of the included events have a high reliability value (3= “probable” and 4= “definite”) which makes the Euro-Mediterranean Tsunami Catalogue an essential tool for the implementation of tsunami hazard and risk assessment

Palazzeschi drammaturgo e precursore del teatro sintetico

Based on a careful analysis of Palazzeschi’s works and of the correspondence between him and Marinetti, the essay casts a new light on the origin of futurist synthetic theatre. With his prose and verses Palazzeschi is in fact the first to make use of synthetic writing and to bring a fulmineous dialogic form within the Futurism; he also develops a grotesque way to futurist theatre and between 1910 and 1911 plans to write a collection of Futurist Dramas, some elements of which can be found in some short proses published afterwards by the author.Based on a careful analysis of Palazzeschi’s works and of the correspondence between him and Marinetti, the essay casts a new light on the origin of futurist synthetic theatre. With his prose and verses Palazzeschi is in fact the first to make use of synthetic writing and to bring a fulmineous dialogic form within the Futurism; he also develops a grotesque way to futurist theatre and between 1910 and 1911 plans to write a collection of Futurist Dramas, some elements of which can be found in some short proses published afterwards by the author

A GIS interface to the new Euro-Mediterranean Tsunami Catalogue produced by the TRANSFER project

TRANSFER, acronym standing for “Tsunami Risk ANd Strategies For the European Region”, is a three-year EU-funded research project that tackled all the main fields of interest in tsunami research, ranging from the improvement of the existing tsunami catalogue and the inventory of seismic and non-seismic tsunami sources, to the assessment of tsunami hazard, vulnerability and risk through innovative deterministic and statistical methodologies, with the final goal of identifying the best strategies for the reduction of tsunami risk. One of the largest efforts produced by the TRANFER consortium has been to convey all the results obtained during the project life into a unique and standardised GIS platform. We present here in some detail the GIS implementation of the improved version of the Euro-Mediterranean Tsunami Catalogue, which is the result of a careful revision, re-analysis, correction and integration of the results produced in the nineties by the EU funded GITEC and GITEC-TWO projects. All the TRANSFER partners involved in this work made some relevant improvements of the quality of the database, in terms of inclusion of new events or updating (or even exclusion) of existing events. The major improvements introduced in the TRANSFER tsunami catalogue with respect to the previous ones are: 1) the enlargement of the geographical area containing historical events (now the catalogue integrates events belonging to the Levantine sea and to Iceland); 2) the inclusion of the tide-gauge data relative to specific historical events; 3) for few events, the position of the places for which tsunami run-up and inundation data are available; 4) the introduction of the 12- points tsunami intensity scale by Papadopoulos and Imamura (2001). The GIS environment and the power of the underlying Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS) allows to query the database in several respects. The most obvious starts from the geographical map containing the position of the historical events plotted with symbol size and colours depending on their intensities. Two main ArcGIS tools are then used to access the other information on the event. The "Identify" tool opens up a mask from which the user can retrieve all the details on date, time, source region and sub-region, reliability, cause, source parameters (intensity, magnitude and focal depth for earthquakes), position of the source. In the same mask, different layers give access to the list of places hit by that specific tsunami, containing the position of the site and the maximum reported run-up and inundation distance, when available. Moreover, it contains the list of references to studies dealing with that particular event. On the other hand, the "Hyperlink" tool opens up a text file containing the full description of the event and, when available, diagrams of measured sea-level data and photographs or similar material. The whole catalogue can be accessed and queried also in table format, allowing the user to perform his/her specific searches

Applicability of the Decision Matrix of North Eastern Atlantic, Mediterranean and connected seas Tsunami Warning System to the Italian tsunamis

After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami catastrophe, UNESCO through the IOC (Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission) sponsored the establishment of Intergovernmental Coordination Groups (ICG) with the aim to devise and implement Tsunami Warning Systems (TWSs) in all the oceans exposed to tsunamis, in addition to the one already in operation in the Pacific (PTWS). In this context, since 2005 efforts started for the establishment of TWSs in the Indian Ocean (IOTWS), in the Caribbean area (CARIBE EWS) and in the North Eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean and Connected Seas (NEAMTWS). In this paper we focus on a specific tool that was first introduced in the PTWS routine operations, i.e. the Decision Matrix (DM). This is an easy-to-use table establishing a link between the main parameters of an earthquake and the possible ensuing tsunami in order to make quick decision on the type of alert bulletins that a Tsunami Warning Center launches to its recipients. In the process of implementation of a regional TWS for the NEAM area, two distinct DMs were recently proposed by the ICG/NEAMTWS, one for the Atlantic and the other for the entire Mediterranean area. This work applies the Mediterranean NEAMTWS DM to the earthquakes recorded in Italy and compares the action predicted by the DM vs. the action that should be appropriate in view of the observed tsunami characteristics with the aim to establish how good the performance of the Italian TWS will be when it uses the DM for future events. To this purpose, we make use of the parametric catalogue of the Italian earthquakes (CPTI04) compiled in 2004 and the most recent compilation of the Italian tsunami, based on the Italian Tsunami Catalogue of 2004 and the subsequent revisions. In order to better compare the TWS actions we have identified four different kinds of action coding them from 0 to 3 according to the tsunami severity and have further considered three different distance ranges where these actions apply, that is local, regional and basin-wide, that refer to the distance of the message recipients from the tsunami source. The result of our analysis is that the actions prescribed by the DM are adequate only in 45%-55% of the cases, overestimations are about 37% and underestimations are the rest. As a whole, the predictive ability of the DM is not satisfactory, which implies that recipients have the difficult task to manage bulletins carrying a great deal of uncertainty and on the other hand also suggests that strategies to improve the DM or to go beyond the DM need to be found

Applying and validating the PTVA-3 Model at the Aeolian Islands, Italy: assessment of the vulnerability of buildings to tsunamis

The volcanic archipelago of the Aeolian Islands (Sicily, Italy) is included on the UNESCO World Heritage list and is visited by more than 200 000 tourists per year. Due to its geological characteristics, the risk related to volcanic and seismic activity is particularly high. Since 1916 the archipelago has been hit by eight local tsunamis. The most recent and intense of these events happened on 30 December 2002. It was triggered by two successive landslides along the north-western side of the Stromboli volcano (Sciara del Fuoco), which poured approximately 2–3×10<sup>7</sup> m<sup>3</sup> of rocks and debris into the Tyrrhenian Sea. The waves impacted across the whole archipelago, but most of the damage to buildings and infrastructures occurred on the islands of Stromboli (maximum run-up 11 m) and Panarea. <br><br> The aim of this study is to assess the vulnerability of buildings to damage from tsunamis located within the same area inundated by the 2002 event. The assessment is carried out by using the PTVA-3 Model (Papathoma Tsunami Vulnerability Assessment, version 3). The PTVA-3 Model calculates a Relative Vulnerability Index (RVI) for every building, based on a set of selected physical and structural attributes. Run-up values within the area inundated by the 2002 tsunami were measured and mapped by the Istituto Italiano di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) and the University of Bologna during field surveys in January 2003. Results of the assessment show that if the same tsunami were to occur today, 54 buildings would be affected in Stromboli, and 5 in Panarea. The overall vulnerability level obtained in this analysis for Stromboli and Panarea are "average"/"low" and "very low", respectively. Nonetheless, 14 buildings in Stromboli are classified as having a "high" or "average" vulnerability. For some buildings, we were able to validate the RVI scores calculated by the PTVA-3 Model through a qualitative comparison with photographs taken by INGV and the University of Bologna during the post-tsunami survey. With the exception of a single structure, which is partially covered by a coastal dune on the seaward side, we found a good degree of accuracy between the PTVA-3 Model forecast assessments and the actual degree of damage experienced by buildings. This validation of the model increases our confidence in its predictive capability. Given the high tsunami risk for the archipelago, our results provide a framework for prioritising investments in prevention measures and addressing the most relevant vulnerability issues of the built environment, particularly on the island of Stromboli

An Intramolecular Hydroaminomethylation-Based Approach to Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids under Microwave-Assisted Heating

A general method for the synthesis of pyrrolizidine derivatives using an intramolecular hydroaminomethylation protocol (HAM) under microwave (MW) dielectric heating is reported. Starting from a 3,4-bis(benzyloxy)-2-[(benzyloxy)methyl]-5-vinylpyrrolidine, MW-assisted intramolecular HAM in the presence of gaseous H2 and CO gave the natural alkaloid hyacinthacine A2 protected as benzyl ether. The same approach gave a lentiginosine analogue starting from the corresponding vinyl N-hydroxypyrrolidine. The nature of the reaction products and the yields were strongly influenced by the relative stereochemistry of the starting pyrrolidines, as well as by the catalyst/ligand employed. The use of ethanol as a solvent provides environmentally friendly conditions, while the ligand/catalyst system can be recovered by separating the alkaloid product with an SCX column and recycling the ethanolic solution. HAM worked up to three times with the recycled catalyst solution without any significant impact on yield

Corrigendum to "Applying and validating the PTVA-3 Model at the Aeolian Islands, Italy: assessment of the vulnerability of buildings to tsunamis" published in Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 10, 1547–1562, 2010

F. Dall'Osso1,2,4, A. Maramai3, L. Graziani3, B. Brizuela3, A. Cavalletti2,4, M. Gonella2,4, and S. Tinti5 1CIRSA, Interdepartmental Centre for Environmental Sciences Research, University of Bologna, via S. Alberto 163, 48100 Ravenna, Italy 2IDRA, Environmental Research Institute, via Kennedy 37, 44100 Ferrara, Italy 3INGV, Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Via di Vigna Murata 605, 00143 Roma, Italy 4Med Ingegneria S.r.l., Environmental Engineering, via P. Zangheri 16, 48124 Ravenna, Italy 5University of Bologna, Department of Physics, Viale Carlo Berti Pichat 8, 40127 Bologna, Ital