Paolo Bazzurro and Joe Maffei, tech. eds. 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 issue covers 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