On October 31 and November 1, 2002, two magnitude Mw 5.7 earthquakes struck the rural Molise region in southeastern Italy killing 30 people, 27 of whom were children trapped in the collapse of an elementary school. This paper summarizes the earthquake's effects and, as the introductory paper to Spectra's special issue on the Molise event, highlights the findings of ongoing studies of the technical and social lessons afforded by the disaster. In 1998 the area was declared a medium seismicity zone, but an administrative delay in updating the seismic zonation meant that up until the time of the earthquake, there were no seismic requirements for new construction—construction that included a 2002 second-story addition to the school that collapsed. The emergency response and recovery planning following the earthquake were notable for the technical sophistication and abundant government resources that have been applied, including the building of a prefabricated temporary village.
