Earthquake Swarm in Florence, Italy, as People Report Tremors Since Early May

Earthquakes have been recorded in Florence and its surrounding areas in Italy since early May.

Despite the low-intensity tremors of an earthquake swarm, there is a growing concern amongst Italian residents near the epicenter.

US geologists and other experts in the field have along described earthquake swarms to lack the main tremor or a main identifiable shock.

However, in the case of Italy, the recurring tremors seem hard to ignore due to another looming catastrophic earthquake, with the previous one in 2016 killing hundreds of people.

Florence Earthquake Risk

The Florentine, a newspaper publication in Italy, reported that the city of Florence is "currently experiencing" an earthquake swarm as of Monday, May 16.

The increased seismic activity in Chianti, near Florence, has not resulted in immediate reports of casualties or property damage.

This is the first time the Chianti area has been rocked by seismic activity.

It is certainly a challenging task for administrators to reassure residents, since the event is far from resolved due to the unknown quantity and unpredictable evolution of Earth's movements, according to Riccardo Martelli, president of the professional association of geologists in Tuscany, as cited by The Florentine.

These low-magnitude quakes emanate from the continued seismic activity back on May 3, when Florentines woke up and felt the first tremors in the region.

The strongest earthquake was measured to be between 3.6 and 4.1 in magnitude and entirely shook Florence, according to Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), as cited by the Italy-based media agency ANSA.

The INGV also said the tremor also struck the area surrounding the Tuscan capital.

A separate 3.7 magnitude earthquake occurred on May 12 in the town of Impruneta, situated 15 kilometers south of Florence.

Major Earthquake Threat

The small tremor reportedly bombarded local authorities with approximately 350 emergency calls from Italian citizens expressing their agitation toward the seismic event.

These recent seismic activities highlight the earthquake risk in Florence and across the Italian region of Tuscany.

In the past, the short-lived earthquake swarms either preceded or succeeded a major earthquake.

In Puerto Rico, earthquake swarms have occurred as early as December 2019 before the massive 6.4 magnitude earthquake in January 2020.

Although the 2020 Caribbean earthquake is thousands of miles from Italy, the Eurasian tectonic plate is still one of the world's relatively seismically active regions, where most earthquakes are weak but a few ones can range from moderate to high in intensity.

2016 Italy Earthquake

In August 2016, at least 247 people were killed and 100 others injured when Central Italy was hit by a 6.2 magnitude earthquake, according to the initial report of Italy's Civil Protection Department, as cited by CNN.

The earth-shaking tremors from the quake transpired in the middle of the night, which left residents in several Italian towns in utter shock.

The death toll will soon increase to almost 300 as local authorities further found dead bodies under fallen structural debris.

Thousands of people were displaced during the 2016 Central Italy earthquake, which was felt as far as Rome.