Central Italy’s devastating earthquake Wednesday morning occurred in a seismically active region that is no stranger to large quakes. The region of the earthquake, underlain by complex geology has experienced a number of similar sized earthquakes in the recent past including the 2009 magnitude 6.3 earthquake near L’Aquila that resulted in 295 deaths and the 1997 magnitude 6.0 earthquake in the Umbria region that resulted in 11 deaths. Jamie Farrell, an assistant research professor of seismology with the University of Utah Seismograph Stations, is available to comment on the geological forces that make Italy earthquake country, and explain how similar forces pull on Utah’s Wasatch Fault.

Jamie Farrell | 801-581-7856 | jamie.farrell@utah.edu