In case of a seismic event, a fast and draft damage map of the hit urban areas can be very useful, in particular when the epicentre of the earthquake is located in remote regions, or the main communication systems are damaged. Our aim is to analyse the capability of remote sensing techniques for damage detection in urban areas and to explore the combined use of radar (SAR) and optical satellite data. Two case studies have been proposed: Izmit (1999; Turkey) and Bam (2003; Iran). Both areas have been affected by strong earthquakes causing heavy and extended damage in the urban settlements close to the epicentre. Different procedures for damage assessment have been successfully tested, either to perform a pixel by pixel classification or to assess damage within homogeneous extended areas. We have compared change detection capabilities of different features extracted from optical and radar data, and analysed the potential of combining measurements at different frequency ranges. Regarding the Izmit case, SAR features alone have reached 70% of correct classification of damaged areas and 5 m panchromatic optical images have given 82%; the fusion of SAR and optical data raised up to 89% of correct pixel-to-pixel classification. The same procedures applied to the Bam test case achieved about 61% of correct classification from SAR alone, 70% from optical data, while data fusion reached 76%. The results of the correlation between satellite remote sensing and ground surveys data have been presented by comparing remotely change detection features averaged within homogeneous blocks of buildings with ground survey data

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.

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this multidisciplinary work provides an updated assessment of possible future eruptive scenarios for the city of Rome. Seven new 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages from selected products of the Monti Sabatini and Vulsini volcanic districts, along with a compilation of all the literature ages on the colli Albani and Vico products, are used to reconstruct and compare the eruptive histories of the Monti Sabatini and colli Albani over the last 900 ka, in order to define their present state of activity. Petrographic analyses of the dated units characterize the crystal cargo, and Advanced-inSAR analysis highlights active deformation in the MS. We also review the historical and instrumental seismicity affecting this region. Based on the chronology of the most recent phases and the time elapsed between the last eruptions, we conclude that the waning/extinguishment of eruptive activity shifted progressively from nW to Se, from northern Latium toward the neapolitan area, crossing the city of Rome. Although Monti Sabatini is unaffected by the unrest indicators presently occurring at the Colli Albani, it should be regarded as a dormant volcanic district, as the time of 70 kyr elapsed since the last eruption is of the same order of the longest dormancies occurred in the past. The city of Rome was founded upon tuffaceous hills that are part of a thick pyroclastic plateau formed by the eruptions of two large volcanic districts: Monti Sabatini (MS) to the NW and Colli Albani (CA) to the SE (Fig. 1). A number of recent studies has ascertained the state of quiescence of the CA, given an average dormancy of 38.5 ± 1.5 kyr during the last 600 ka, and the occurrence of the most recent eruption at 36 ± 1 ka 1 (and references therein). Moreover, a 20 year-long InSAR data record revealed ongoing inflation with maximum uplift rates >2 mm/yr in the area hosting the most recent (<200 ka) eruptive vents, suggesting that magma recharge is possibly occurring at depth 2 (and references therein). In contrast, no similar studies have been undertaken in the MS so far, precluding a reliable assessment of its actual state. However, a recent geomorphologic study on the fluvial terraces of the Tiber Valley found evidence of ca. 50 m of differential uplift occurred along the MS eastern sector in the last 125 kyr, concurrent with the most recent phase of eruptive activity from multiple vents 1 (Fig. 1). For this reason, a dedicated research project has been conducted to refine the MS eruptive history through a set of new 40 Ar/ 39 Ar age determinations, and to assess possible active soil deformation, including seismotectonic processes and vertical movements, through InSAR analysis. The analysis of the regional seismicity, comparing instrumental and historical records for the four volcanic districts of Latium, is provided aiming at highlighting possible unrest indicators, as recently shown for the CA 2. Geologic setting The MS belongs to the highly potassic Roman Magmatic Province 3 , which originated in the area comprised between the Apennine orogen and the Tyrrhenian ...

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