[2][3] Most of the victims were killed and injured when a school collapsed in the town of San Giuliano di Puglia: 26 of the 51 schoolchildren died, together with one of their teachers.

[4] Molise and Apulia lie above a series of thrust sheets that were emplaced northeastwards on top of the foreland of the Adriatic plate due to continental collision during the Neogene.

The best described of these zones is the Mattinata Fault, which has a clear topographic expression on the south side of the Gargano Peninsula and has been traced offshore into the Adriatic Sea.

The estimated epicentre of the 1627 Gargano earthquake lies just beyond the western end of the known extent of the Mattinata Fault, although the link between the two remains uncertain.

[11] Buildings with masonry walls and reinforced concrete floors performed particularly badly in the earthquakes, with many of those in the centre of San Giuliano di Puglia being severely damaged.

The design of the recent addition was never analysed for earthquake safety as the area at the time was classified as category 1, "not subject to seismic hazard".

[11] Immediately after the mainshocks, three "Centro Operativo Mistos" (COMs) were established in the area by the Protezione Civile to assist the local authorities and carry out other tasks such as transportation and road management, telecommunications, evacuations, logistics and the coordination of volunteers.

Additional centres, known as "Centro Operativo Comunales" (COCs), were established in San Martino in Pensilis, Bonefro, Colletorto, Ripabottoni and Provvidenti to temporarily take over the functions of the comunes.

[11] The initial phase of the response involved evacuation of the inhabitants of the most severely affected areas so that they could be provided with temporary accommodation and food.

The scheme that existed at the time of the earthquakes of three categories, of which the lowest (uncategorised) was not considered to be at risk, was replaced with a fourfold classification.

Finally, in 2004 the whole country was assessed in terms of ground accelerations for which there is a 10% risk of exceedance in the next 50 years, which is considered the most effective way to reduce the vulnerability to future earthquakes.

[14] The Francesco Jovine school has been completely rebuilt using seismic base isolation techniques, to protect it against any future shocks.