Italy’s tsunami warning system issued an orange alert for the Aeolian Islands after a magnitude 5.7 quake in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea, then canceled it 53 minutes later.
The earthquake struck at 6:19 a.m. ET Friday, Oct. 23 (10:19 UTC). The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recorded a depth of 10 kilometers and placed the epicenter 61 kilometers west-northwest of Leni. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) lists the event at Mw 5.5.
INGV Tsunami Warning Centre (CAT) sent its first notice at 6:23 a.m. ET (10:23 UTC) and raised the alert to orange at 6:29 a.m. ET (10:29 UTC). CAT said the orange alert covered waves under 50 centimeters, with coastal run-up below 1 meter. CAT canceled the alert at 7:22 a.m. ET after reviewing sea-level readings from two gauges.
INGV said the Italian Civil Protection Department (DPC) forwarded the message to local authorities and all components of the national civil protection system. GDACS gave the event an overall green rating.
INGV said this was the first Mediterranean event processed through its new Probabilistic Tsunami Forecasting procedure and described it as a successful test of the system.
