ABSTRACT
On April 6, 2009, at 3:32 a.m., a violent earthquake, magnitude 5.8-5.9 on the Richter scale, hit the Abruzzo region and L’Aquila city. Geographically, Abruzzo is one of the central regions in Italy. In the past 50 years, it achieved “the highest developmental rate in the entire country, and [was] becoming a pivotal area for the national economy, especially as far as its coastal area is concerned” (Ozerdem and Rufini 2013).
