earthquake in almost the whole region of

[burgundia]

northern Italy 4.7 on Richter scale yesterday at 11pm. Yesterday afternoon the quake was 5.2. No casualties, just proprety damage.

[WiNaDeYo]

Yep! Sure did. The Rai TV reported that there were as many as 50 tremors yesterday in the area of Parma, 2 particularily strong ones around 4:25pm and 11:00pm.

I'm up in the alps and didn't notice them at all, which is quite unusual for me; I usually do feel them.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp...c=Worldupdates

Wednesday December 24, 2008
Strong earthquake hits northern Italy
PARMA, Italy (Reuters) - An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.1 struck northern Italy on Tuesday near the city of Parma and was followed hours later by a smaller quake, but no one was injured, officials said.

Train services were briefly interrupted on some lines and there was minor damage to some buildings, including two churches.

Startled Italians jammed telephone lines after the initial quake at 4.25 p.m. (1525 GMT) that was unusually strong for northern Italy and was felt from the financial capital Milan to Florence to Trieste.

"There is some anguish, a lot of fear ... In the town hall itself there was a lot of panic," said Alberto Pazzoni, mayor of Traversetolo, a town just outside Parma and near the quake's epicentre.

"But the information we have got from the police and local health services is very comforting. There have been no calls to emergency services," he said.

A second, smaller quake struck at about 11 p.m. (2200 GMT) with a magnitude of 4.7, the Civil Protection Agency said. One press official described it as an aftershock.

Earthquakes can be particularly dangerous in parts of Italy where centuries-old buildings are left in disrepair. In 2002, a quake measuring 5.4 flattened a school in the southern Molise region, killing 27 children and a teacher.

Enzo Boschi, head of the National Institute of Geophysics, said Tuesday's main quake appeared to be "nothing catastrophic".

"The area (near the quake's epicentre) is well constructed, so there shouldn't be serious problems," Boschi told Sky Italia television.

The U.S. Geological Survey gave higher estimates for the scale of the earthquakes, putting the magnitude of the first one at 5.3 and the second at 5.2.

It said the first earthquake struck at a depth of 28.9 km, while the second was at a more shallow 17 km.

Copyright © 2008 Reuters