40 percent of Italians at risk from quakes

London, April 7 (ANI): Scientists have said that Italy is prone to earthquakes because it sits at the junction of two tectonic plates, leaving 40 per cent of the population of the country at risk.

Seven years ago, 30 people died - including 27 schoolchildren and their teacher - during a quake centred on the southern town of San Giuliano di Puglia.

Central Umbria was shattered by a disturbance 12 years ago, which killed 13 people and destroyed hundreds of historic buildings.

In 1980, a terrifying quake near Naples killed more than 3,000, injured 9,000 and made more than 30,000 homeless.

Italy's biggest killer came in 1908 in Messina, Sicily, and measured 7.2 on the Richter scale and killed more than 70,000 people.

"The whole region is riddled with faults," Open University lecturer David Rothery told the Daily Express. (ANI)