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Between August and November 2016, three major earthquake events occurred in Central Italy. The first event, with M6.1, took place on 24 August 2016, the second (M5.9) on 26 October, and the third (M6.5) on 30 October 2016. Each event was followed by numerous aftershocks. The 24 August event caused massive damages especially to the villages of Arquata del Tronto, Accumoli, Amatrice, and Pescara del Tronto. In total, there were 299 fatalities, generally from collapses of unreinforced masonry dwellings. The October events caused significant new damage in the villages of Visso, Ussita, and Norcia, although not producing fatalities, since the area had largely been evacuated. The Italy–US Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance team investigated earthquake effects on slopes, villages, and major infrastructures. The approach adopted to carry out post-earthquake reconnaissance surveys was to combine traditional reconnaissance activities of on-ground evidences and mapping of field conditions with advanced imaging and damage detection routines enabled by state-of-the-art geomatics technology. Presented herein are the outcomes of the post-event reconnaissance surveys conducted after both the August main shock and the October events, focusing on geotechnical aspects, such as earthquake-triggered slope failures, mud volcanoes, performance of different geotechnical structures (i.e., dams, retaining walls, rockfall barriers, road embankments) and building damage patterns related to site amplification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the earthquake of 23 November 1980, the historic centre of the village of San Michele di Serino in Southern Italy was almost completely destroyed. The site investigations carried out after the earthquake revealed the subsoil to consist fundamentally of compressible silty soils with interbedded gravelly layers. To improve the poor ground conditions prior to reconstruction, it was decided to use the vibro-compaction method with the installation of stone columns (vibro-replacement technique). In this study, the degree of soil improvement achieved at the site is assessed by comparing both the profiles of numerous penetration tests performed before and after the treatment, and the respective values of the foundation settlement calculated using the practical method developed by Van Impe and De Beer, which allows the reinforcing and soil compaction effects due to the installation of stone columns to be accounted for in a simple manner. The obtained results prove that remarkable soil compaction was achieved by the treatment, especially in the deep soil layers characterised initially by low penetration resistance. Moreover, it is shown that, if the soil compaction effect is ignored, the settlement of the composite system consisting of stone columns and soil subject to loading could be significantly overestimated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of an error during the editorial process the first name initial of author Ernesto Ausilio was incorrectly given as A. (A. Ausilio) in the initial online publication. It should obviously be E. Ausilio. The original article has been corrected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]