Rapid response to the earthquake emergency of May 2012 in the Po Plain, northern Italy
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Abstract
Rapid-response seismic networks are an important element in the response to seismic crises. They temporarily improve the detection performance of permanent monitoring systems during seismic sequences. The improvement in earthquake detection and location capabilities can be important for decision makers to assess the current situation, and can provide invaluable data for scientific studies related to hazard, tectonics and earthquake physics. Aftershocks and the clustering of the locations of seismic events help to characterize the dimensions of the causative fault. Knowing the number, size and timing of the aftershocks or the clustering seismic events can help in the foreseeing of the characteristics of future seismic sequences in the same tectonic environment. Instrumental rapid response requires a high degree of preparedness. A mission in response to a magnitude (Ml) 6 event with a rupture length of a few tens of kilometers might involve the deployment within hours to days of 30-50 seismic stations in the middle of a disaster area of some hundreds of square kilometers, and the installation of an operational center to help in the logistics and communications. When an earthquake strikes in a populated area, which is almost always the case in Italy, driving the relevant seismic response is more difficult. […]
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