Scientific research and civil protection knowledge sharing to build more resilient societies

"Italian research in seismic engineering and the activities of ReLUIS 40 years after the Campania-Lucan earthquake". This is the title of the webinar that took place today focused on seismic prevention, organized by the Department of Civil Protection, the Network of University Seismic Engineering Laboratories (ReLUIS) and the Inarcassa Foundation.

The Minister of University and Research, Gaetano Manfredi, opened the works, highliting the importance of the new "seismic engineering season" that came after the Irpinia earthquake, which focused on research capacity, the importance of training and the development of technologies. In particular, Manfredi pointed out that "research, as is evident in this historical period linked to the Covid-19 Emergency, must be based on networks that connect the Italian poles in a structural way, as Reluis does, to bring seismic research to the levels of leading countries such as Japan and the United States".

Today we are talking about simical research 40 years after one of the most dramatic earthquakes in the Italian history, highlighted the Minister, but scientific activity must necessarily be accompanied by the participation of citizens and this can only happen through the dissemination of knowledge. "Only through  knowledge sharing, as the campaign I don't take risks demonstrates, we can make citizens aware of risk and build an increasingly resilient society", concluded the minister.

Also, the President of Reluis, Edoardo Cosenza, the President of the Superior Council of Public Works, Massimo Sessa, and the President of the Inarcassa Foundation, Franco Fietta gave a speech during the opening.

"The civil protection system and the contribution of the scientific community. Yesterday, today and tomorrow" was the speech addressed by the Director of the Civil Protection Department, Mauro Dolce, who illustrated the organization of civil protection activities at the time of the 1980 earthquake in Irpinia, regulated by Law 996/1970 dealing with the rules on relief and assistance to populations affected by disasters. The civil protection activity was then regulated by Law 225/1992, whose structure has been taken over in the current Civil Protection Code (Legislative Decree 1/2018), which also provides for close collaboration with the scientific community. In the last 20 years, the collaboration between Civil Protection and the scientific community has evolved and consolidated through a daily report on the issues of forecasting and prevention, starting from the Hydro-Meteo sector and some scientific structures then began to operate in a structured way together with the Department.

The scientific community participates in the National Service through the integration in civil protection activities of knowledge and products resulting from research and innovation activities with a recognized level of maturity and consensus, also the result of initiatives promoted by the European Union and international organizations in the field of research for the defense against natural disasters.

The Director's speech concluded with a look towards the future where the integration of the various Competence Centers will be fundamental, because the complexity of risk management, makes it necessary to adopt multi-risk approaches.

The day of work ended with a series of thematic interventions on seismic engineering.