Civil Protection Department

Cover soil

• Blanket of melted sediment or altered rocks, with a variable thickness (from a few to tens of metres), that covers a compact unaltered rock (substrate).

Deferred time

• Period of time measurable in years, decades and centuries, in which the actions of study and prediction, as well as planning, programming and carrying out of interventions, are aimed at guaranteeing permanent and regular safeguard of human life, of property, and the protection and use of environmental resources.

Earthquake

• Intense shaking of the earth at a site, the effect of rapid movement of large portions of the earth’s crust corresponding to a fault pinside the crust itself, the seismic origin. The entity of the earthquake will depend on the geometric characteristics of the fault, the modality of propagation of the perturbation between the source and the site and the lithostratigraphic and morphological characteristics of the latter.

Portable digital tromometers

• Sensitive seismometers capable of recording the velocity of natural or artificial small amplitude seismic waves – microtremors –  cin the environment (see also noise analysis). Accurate measurements enable determination, through the transversal wave velocity (Vs), of the frequency of surface soil vibration, and/or their thickness.

Real time

•  Period of time measurable in months, in which the effectiveness of the civil protection event, which is urgent, cannot be postponed and is generally not permanent, must develop and become clear. The period includes:
  - the prediction of the occurrence of a natural and/or manmade event, albeit complex;
  - the counteractions against and containment of the effects, particularly on the population and its property;
  - the management of the state of emergency, if applicable;
  - restoration of the living conditions that existed before the event itself, and, where possible and through suitable measures, the pursuit of a reduction in the degree of danger.

Return time

• Frequency of the civil protection event over time. The average time that elapses between two subsequent occurrences of an event of a certain type and a given intensity.

Waste to Energy Plants

• A WtE (Waste to Energy) plant is a waste incinerator able to use the calorie content of the waste itself to generate heat, heat water and finally produce electricity. It is therefore different from old-type incinerators that only destroyed waste without producing energy. Although producing a lot less pollution than the old incinerators, WtE plants do not eliminate the emission of dioxins that are dispersed in the surrounding atmosphere.

   

Triage

• A French word that means “sorting” used for the process of dividing patients into varying classes of seriousness, according to their injuries and treatment and/or evacuation priorities.

Tsunami

• Literally “harbour wave”, it is a Japanese word for a kind of anomalous wave that is not blocked by the normal constructions built to protect harbours. The phenomenon of the tsunami consists in a series of waves that propagate across the ocean. The waves are generated by movements on the seabed, generally caused by strong underwater earthquakes, but also by volcanic eruptions or by huge landslides under the sea.