The recent earthquake in Abruzzo, which killed more than 200 people, has highlighted one risk that comes from buying property overseas in some of Europe's less familiar locations. Abruzzo is one of those regions to have recently been 'discovered' as properties in more popular regions such as Tuscany and Umbria became increasingly expensive. The rugged mountain scenery to which Abruzzo owes its appeal is also at the heart of the recent tragedy since the Apennines, Italy's backbone, host a fault in the Earth's tectonic plates.
So what can you do to avoid finding yourself at risk from earthquakes? The first answer is to choose carefully where you buy. In Europe, there are relatively few areas where there is a significant risk of an earthquake. A map prepared from ESPON (European Spatial Observation Network) data shows that most of northern Europe, including the UK, is ranked as "low hazard" or "very low hazard" with respect to earthquakes.
Significant parts of quite a few Mediterranean countries are classified as "moderate hazard" while the areas that are classified as "high" are central Italy, including Abruzzo, a good part of the Greek mainland as well as quite a few of the islands, and parts of Bulgaria and Romania. Much of Turkey is also at high risk.
Places in Europe that have suffered significant seismic events in recent history include the Bay of Naples in Italy, the island of Cefalonia in Greece, as well as the city of Thessalonikai. In 1755 a major quake destroyed the city of Lisbon. Sicily had a major quake in 1908 when the city of Messina was destroyed and 83,000 people were killed; more recently in 1968 a smaller quake killed 400.
Vittorio Sgarbi, the mayor of Salemi, a town in the middle of Sicily, recently offered to sell houses that had remained empty and derelict since that 1968 earthquake for just one Euro, to anyone who would restore them in line with strict building controls. "There are 3,700 houses owned by the council, almost all in the old town, that are in danger of falling down - of crumbling and dying," Mr Sgarbi explained.
In general, if you're buying in an earthquake zone, you should ensure that if the property has been built in the last few decades then it has been constructed to earthquake proof standards, which include measures such as strong foundations, shear walls to absorb lateral impact, and using materials such as concrete and steel rather than bricks.
Alexander Garrett is a freelance property writer who contributes regularly to The Observer and British Airways' Business Life.