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On December 30, 2002, following an intense period of activity of Stromboli volcano (south Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy), complex mass failures occurred on the northwest slope of the mountain which also involved the underwater portion of the volcanic edifice for a total volume of about 2-3×10 7 m 3 . Two main landslides occurred within a time separation of 7 min, and both set tsunami waves in motion that hit the coasts of Stromboli causing injuries to three people and severe damage to buildings and structures. The tsunamis also caused damage on the island of Panarea, some 20 km to the SSE from the source. They were observed all over the Aeolian archipelago, at the island of Ustica to the west, along the northern Sicily coasts to the south as well as along the Tyrrhenian coasts of Calabria to the east and in Campania to the north. This paper presents field observations that were made in the days and weeks immediately following the events. The results of the quantitative investigations undertaken in the most affected places, namely along the coasts of Stromboli and on the island of Panarea, are reported in order to highlight the dynamics of the attacking waves and their impact on the physical environment, on the coastal structures and on the coastal residential zone. In Stromboli, the tsunami waves were most violent along the northern and northeastern coastal belt between Punta Frontone and the village of Scari, with maximum runup heights of about 11 m measured on the beach of Spiaggia Longa. Measured runups were observed Editorial responsibility: J. Gilbert

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This paper describes the damage survey in the city of L'Aquila after the 6 April 2009 earthquake. The earthquake, whose magnitude and intensity reached Mw = 6.3 and Imax = 9-10 MCS, struck the Abruzzi region of Central Italy producing severe damage in L'Aquila and in many villages along the Middle Aterno River valley. After the event, a building-to-building survey was performed in L'Aquila downtown aiming to collect data in order to perform a strict evaluation of the damage. The survey was carried out under the European Macroseismic Scale (EMS98) to evaluate the local macroseismic intensity. This damage survey represents the most complex application of the EMS98 in Italy since it became effective. More than 1,700 buildings (99% of the building stock) were taken into account during the survey at L'Aquila downtown, highlighting the difficult application of the macroseismic scale in a large urban context. The EMS98 revealed itself to be the best tool to perform such kind of analysis in urban settings. The complete survey displayed evidence of peculiar features in the damage distribution. Results revealed that the highest rate of collapses occurred within a delimited area of the historical centre and along the SW border of the fluvial terrace on which the city is settled. Intensity assessed for L'Aquila downtown was 8-9 EMS.

Abstract. The volcanic archipelago of the Aeolian Islands (Sicily, Italy) is included on the UNESCO World Heritage list and is visited by more than 200 000 tourists per year. Due to its geological characteristics, the risk related to volcanic and seismic activity is particularly high. Since 1916 the archipelago has been hit by eight local tsunamis. The most recent and intense of these events happened on 30 December 2002. It was triggered by two successive landslides along the north-western side of the Stromboli volcano (Sciara del Fuoco), which poured approximately 2-3×10 7 m 3 of rocks and debris into the Tyrrhenian Sea. The waves impacted across the whole archipelago, but most of the damage to buildings and infrastructures occurred on the islands of Stromboli (maximum run-up 11 m) and Panarea.The aim of this study is to assess the vulnerability of buildings to damage from tsunamis located within the same area inundated by the 2002 event. The assessment is carried out by using the PTVA-3 Model (Papathoma Tsunami Vulnerability Assessment, version 3). The PTVA-3 Model calculates a Relative Vulnerability Index (RVI) for every building, based on a set of selected physical and structural attributes. Run-up values within the area inundated by the 2002 tsunami were measured and mapped by the Istituto Italiano di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) and the University of Bologna during field surveys in January 2003. Results of the assessment show that if the same tsunami were to occur today, 54 buildings would be affected in Stromboli, and 5 in Panarea. The overall vulnerability level obtained in this analysis for Stromboli and Panarea are "average"/"low" and "very low", respectively. Nonetheless, 14 buildings in StromCorrespondence to: F. Dall'Osso (filippodallosso@gmail.com) boli are classified as having a "high" or "average" vulnerability. For some buildings, we were able to validate the RVI scores calculated by the PTVA-3 Model through a qualitative comparison with photographs taken by INGV and the University of Bologna during the post-tsunami survey. With the exception of a single structure, which is partially covered by a coastal dune on the seaward side, we found a good degree of accuracy between the PTVA-3 Model forecast assessments and the actual degree of damage experienced by buildings. This validation of the model increases our confidence in its predictive capability. Given the high tsunami risk for the archipelago, our results provide a framework for prioritising investments in prevention measures and addressing the most relevant vulnerability issues of the built environment, particularly on the island of Stromboli.