There are 16,302 earthquakes recorded in 2022 on the Italian territory and in the neighboring areas by the National Seismic Network: it is an average of 44 earthquakes per day, almost 1 earthquake every 30 minutes. The strongest earthquakes were located outside Italian territory or at sea along the coasts, similar to what happened in 2021. Seismic events of magnitude equal to or greater than 5.0 occurred in Algeria, Bosnia, the Gulf of Policastro in the Tyrrhenian Sea, and the Adriatic Sea. Just off the Marche Coast of Pesaro, the most important seismic sequence of 2022 took place, which began on the morning of November 9 with two earthquakes of magnitude 5.5 and 5.2 that occurred about a minute apart and affected a very large area of central northern Italy. The total number of earthquakes located within the borders in 2022 is slightly higher than that of 2021 and remains stable around 16 thousand earthquakes since 2019, down compared to the years 2016, 2017 and 2018, characterized by the seismic sequence in central Italy (Amatrice-Norcia-Visso) started on August 24, 2016. Sicily is the region that recorded the most earthquakes (184) of magnitude equal to or greater than 2.0. As always, the region with the fewest earthquakes is Sardinia.
|