EARTH · Earthquakes And community Resilience Through Historical analysis

EARTH (Earthquakes And community Resilience Through Historical analysis) project explores the social and economic impact of earthquakes on Eastern Mediterranean societies during the Late Roman period (4th-6th centuries CE). It aims to highlight the characteristics of different societies that have suffered from earthquakes and analyse the theoretical and practical responses generated by these natural disasters. For these reasons, the ER has chosen to explore the Negev area from the 4th to the 6th century CE. This choice allows the researcher to analyse if earthquakes influenced human settlement choices, how different societies reacted to a catastrophic event, and how central powers changed their strategies. Today, as in the past, earthquakes continue to be an unpredictable and frightening phenomenon. They are examples of the power of nature and the impotence of man. EARTH project contributes to the recent flowering of integral regional studies, in which geography and topography, the history of settlements and migration, the study of trade routes, economic processes, and political organisation play an important role. Even earthquakes that did not have a significant impact were sometimes mentioned by ancient writers. Therefore, historians inevitably encounter this topic. By focusing on earthquakes and the events they triggered, my project compares societies at times when they were pushed to go beyond their limits and actively or reflexively deal with this circumstance.Studying ancient earthquakes is mandatory not only to explore historical seismology, but also because it allows us to better understand human societies, their resilience and their relationship with the past.