L'Aquila Earthquake

Date: April 6, 2009 • Location: L'Aquila, Italy

An earthquake measuring 6.3 Mw struck near L'Aquila in the central Italian region of Abruzzo, killing 308 people and leaving more than 66,000 homeless.

An earthquake occurred in the region of Abruzzo, in southern Italy, at 03:32 CEST on 6 April 2009. It measured 6.3 on the moment magnitude scale and 5.8 or 5.9 on the Richter scale; its epicentre was near L'Aquila, the capital of Abruzzo, which together with surrounding villages suffered the most damage. There were several thousand foreshocks and aftershocks since December 2008, more than thirty of which had a Richter magnitude greater than 3.5.