At least ten earthquakes were recorded in northwestern Italy on Thursday, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC).

Epicentre of Thursday's earthquake
© Google/IWOEpicentre of Thursday's earthquake.
The largest of the earthquakes measured 4.2 magnitude (mb) on the Richter Scale and occurred at 08:11 AM local time (00:11 AM EDT) at a shallow depth of 10 km. The epicentre was located in the Aveto Natural Regional Park, about 5 km northeast of Borzonasca (pop 2,046), 16 km northeast of Chiavari (pop 27,865), and 39 km east of Genoa (pop 601,951).

It was the strongest earthquake to hit northern Italy since a 4.3 magnitude earthquake struck on 25 July last.

The other nine tremors recorded on Thursday ranged between 2.2 and 3.4 magnitude.

The most significant earthquake to hit the region in recent years occurred on 23 December 2008 when a 5.4 magnitude quake was recorded WNW of Genoa and SW of Parma. Previous to that a 5.4 mb earthquake struck northeast of Verona on 24 November 2004.

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