Civil Protection Department

Barcelona Process

• The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (or Barcelona Process) started in 1995, following the Barcelona Declaration and establishes the politics of the European Union towards Mediterranean countries.

  The partnership aims at strenghtening relations between the European Union and Partner Countries, to favour peace and stability through the reinforcement of political and security dialogue, promoting shared values such as democracy and legally constituted state.

   

Basic seismic hazard

• A component of seismic hazard due to the seismological characteristics of the area (type, size and depth of the seismic sources, energy and frequency of earthquakes). Basic seismic hazard calculates (usually using a probabilistic method), for a certain region and in a certain period of time, the parameter values corresponding to set excess probabilities. These parameters (speed, acceleration, intensity, spectrum ordinates) describe the shaking produced by the earthquake in conditions of rigid ground and with morphological irregularities (reference earthquake). This study is usually on a regional scale. One of the purposes of these studies is seismic classification classification on a large scale of the territory, with a view to programming prevention measures and emergency planning. It represents a base for definition of reference earthquakes for studying seismic microzonation.

Basin Plan

• Cognitive, regulatory and technical-operational tool, through which actions and usage rules for the conservation, protection, exploitation of land and water use are designed and planned, based on the physical and environmental characteristics of territory.

   

Dangerousness

• The probability that a harmful event of a specific intensity occurs in a given area within a specified period, called return period. The dangerousness is function of the frequency of the event. In some cases, such as floods, it is possibile to estimate - within an acceptable approximation - the probability that a given event may occur within the return period. In other cases, such as some types of landslides, the estimate is more difficult.

Emergency planning

• Coordinated elaboration of the operative intervention procedures to be implemented when an expected event occurs in a certain scenario. 

Fine Particles/Particulates

• Particulates, atmospheric dust, fine particles, suspended dust particles (PTS) are tiny subdivisions of solid matter suspended in a gas or liquid (fibres, carbon particles, metals, silica, liquid or solid pollutants) whose diameter goes from a few centimetres to 500 micron and beyond (that is from one billionth of a metre to half a millimeter).

  They are considered the highest impact pollutant in urban areas.

Influenza pandemic

• An influenza pandemic is an epidemic of an influenza virus that spreads on a worldwide scale and infects a large proportion of the human population. In contrast to the regular seasonal epidemics of influenza, these pandemics occur irregularly.

Lithospheric plates

• The parts into which, according to the plate tectonic heory, the earth’s crust is divided. The litosphere is made up of around a dozen main plates like a sort of puzzle, with pieces in continual movement. Earthquakes and volcanic activity are the most obvious manifestation of this vital aspect of the earth.

Local civil protection plan

• Plan drawn up by municipalities to adequately manage a possible emergency in their area, as provided for by DLgs 112/1998. It takes account of the various risk scenarios considered in the prevision and prevention programmes, on a provincial and regional level

Local seismic hazard

• Element of seismic hazard that depends on local characteristics (lithostratigraphic and morphological, see local effects). The study of local seismic hazard is carried out on a detailed scale starting with the results of basic seismic hazard studies (reference earthquake) and analysing the site’s geological, geomorphological, geotechnical and geophysical characteristics. It allows definition of local amplification and the possibility of occurrence ground instability phenomena. The most important result of this kind of study is the microzonation map.

Operating procedures

• Set of rules that govern the management of the flow of information between subjects involved in an emergency, the warning, deployment and coordination of the components and operating units of the Civil Protection National Service.

Pee - External emergency plan

• Official document through which authorities organize the civil protection response to mitigate damages after a considerable accident. It is designed on scenarios that locate risk areas, namely the territory surrounding an industrial plant, where - presumably - effect of the event may occur.

Pei - Internal emergency plan

• Document prepared by the administrator of an industrial plant exposed to relevant risk, in order to be able to deal with it. Pei provides for the activation of internal emergency teams, along with fire fighters. The administrator must inform authorities about the event. 

Seismic hazard

• The quantitative estimation of shaking of the ground due to a seismic event in a given area. Seismic hazard can be analysed using deterministic methods, assuming a certain reference earthquake or using probabilistic methods where the uncertainties due to size, localisation or time of occurrence of the earthquake are explicitly considered. This estimate includes analysis of basic seismic hazard and of local seismic hazard.

Pesticides

• This is a generic term used for all substances capable of controlling, limiting, warding off or destroying living organisms (microorganisms, animals or plants) considered to be toxic or of stopping their development.
  The term “pesticide” also includes products for protection of plants, products used by vets to protect pets (for example, anti-flea collars for dogs).

Petroleum

• Flammable and dense liquid, found in some fields of the upper layers of the earth's crust. It consists of a mixture of various hydrocarbons

PGA - Peak Ground Acceleration

• Maximum ground acceleration value measured during an earthquake. This is a value of engineering interest used in planning to define the construction characteristics for buildings in seismic zones.

PGD - Peak Ground Displacement

• The highest value of ground displacement recorded during an earthquake, necessary for characterising the amplitude of the seismic motion at low frequencies.

   

PGV - Peak Ground Velocity

• Maximum velocity value of ground subject to seismic action which characterises the amplitude of the seismic motion at intermediate frequencies. The value indicates the potential damage of structures sensitive to intermediate frequencies, such as tall buildings or bridges.

Pyroclasts

• A generic term for all fragmented materials emitted during explosive volcanic activity.

Pit crater

• A pit crater (also called a subsidence crater or collapse crater) is a depression, usually with a circular opening, formed by a sinking of the ground surface lying above a void or empty chamber, rather than by the eruption of a volcano or lava vent.  

PMA - Advanced Medical Post

• Functional device of selection and sanitary treatment of victims, placed along the borders of the safety area or in a central zone from area where the event occurred. It may be a structure - tents, containers - or a structured area to gather victims concentrate first treatment resources and organize the sanitary evacuation of wounded people.

Polyethylene

• It is the simplest of synthetic polymers and it is the most common of plastics. It is often indicated with the abbreviation “PE”.

Precursors

• Sizes and related indicators of the likely occurrence of preconfigured scenarios of an event, along with the consequent effects on the integrity of life, property, settlements and environment, if no action of contrast and containment - albeit temporary and provisional - occurs.

Prevention

• Activities aimed at avoiding or minimising the possibility of damage occurring in the wake of a disaster. These include structural as well as non-structural intervention such as emergency planning, civil protection exercises, training and informing the public.

Prevision

• Activities aimed at determining the causes of calamitous phenomena, in order to identify risks and define the territory concerned by the risk.

Weather forecasts on synoptic scale for civil protection purposes

• Weather forecasts organized by the Weather Technical Group, adopted by the Department on the entire national territory for the following 72 hours, with the purpose of allowing the weather forecast areas of the peripheral Functional Centres to produre and render their own forecast on limited areas (on regional or provincial scale) and the Department to isse a national weather vigilance bulletin on a daily basis.

Scheduling

• Activities including the period of anticipation of the event, namely the technical-scientific knowledge of the risks of a territory, and the phase of prevention, namely the mitigation of risks. The result is the prediction and prevention programs that are a prerequisite for emergency planning, managed by the responsible authorities  for territory.

   

Rescue tests

• Practical activities to assess search and rescue intervention capacity. They are carried out and organised by each of the operating units of the Civil Protection National Service through the use of its own resources in terms of man power, means and materials.