ALBERT

Description: The Italian Tsunami Alert Centre of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (Centro di Allerta Tsunami, hereinafter CAT-INGV) supported a computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) survey to investigate tsunami risk perception in two pilot regions of southern Italy. The survey was carried out on a stratified sample of 1021 interviewees representing about 3.2 million people living in 183 coastal municipalities of the two regions, namely Calabria and Apulia. The main goal of this research is to verify whether and how people's perception of tsunami hazard compares to the results of (PTHA) – probabilistic tsunami hazard assessment (TSUMAPS-NEAM project; Basili et al., 2018). As shown by the results of this project, both investigated regions are characterised by high tsunami hazard. Nonetheless, the long return time of such events could lead people to consider the occurrence of a tsunami in the Mediterranean Sea to be very unlikely. The survey results reveal that people's risk perception is low: for almost half of the whole sample the occurrence of a tsunami in the Mediterranean Sea is considered quite unlikely, with a clear difference between Apulia and Calabria. In the latter region the risk perception is much higher than in the former, probably due to the shorter time elapsed since the last event. Also, belonging to different coastal areas1 appears to have a significant influence on the way tsunami hazard is conceived, having a stronger effect on risk characterisation: the interviewees of Tyrrhenian Calabria are indeed more likely to associate tsunami risk with volcanoes than the Ionian citizens. This is coherent considering the presence of active volcanoes and related tsunami precedents in the Tyrrhenian. Television emerged as the most relevant source of knowledge for almost 90 % of the sample, and the influence of media also results in the way tsunami risk is characterised. In particular, the survey showed that people's perception and understanding of tsunamis are affected by media accounts of large events, such as the 2004 Sumatra and the 2011 Japan tsunamis. At the same time, it is evident that the risk posed by smaller events is underrated. Furthermore, the survey's results show that the word “tsunami” occupies a different semantic space in comparison to the Italian traditional headword maremoto, with differences among sample strata. In other words, the same physical phenomenon would be understood in two different ways by younger, educated people and elders with a low education level. The results of this study, although limited to two regions, provide a first assessment of tsunami risk perception in Italy, also entailing important consequences for both risk communication practice and mitigation policies.

Description: According to a deep-rooted conviction, the occurrence of a tsunami in the Mediterranean Sea would be very rare. However, in addition to the catastrophic event of Messina and Reggio Calabria (1908) and the saved danger for the tsunami occurred on Cycladic sea in 1956, 44 events are reported in the Mediterranean Sea between 1951 and 2003, and other smaller tsunamis occurred off Morocco, Aegean and Ionian seashores between 2017 and 2018. Such events, that are just a little part of the over 200 historically events reported for the Mediterranean (Maramai, Brizuela & Graziani, 2014) should remind geoscientists, civil protection officers, media and citizens that 1) tsunami hazard in the Mediterranean is not negligible, and 2) tsunamis come in all shapes and colours, and even a small event can result in serious damages and loss of lives and properties. Recently, a project funded by the European Commission (TSUMAPS-NEAM, Basili et al., 2018) has estimated the tsunami hazard due to seismic sources in the NEAM region (one of the four ICG coordinated by the UNESCO IOC) finding that a significant hazard is present in most coasts of the area, particularly in those of Greece and Italy. In such a scenario, where low probability and high uncertainty match with poor knowledge and familiarity with tsunami hazard, risk mitigation strategies and risk communicators should avoid undue assumptions about public’s supposed attitudes and preparedness, as these may results in serious consequences for the exposed population, geoscientists, and civil protection officers. Hence, scientists must carefully shape their messages and rely on well-researched principled practices rather than on good intuitions (Bostrom, & Löfstedt, 2003). For these reasons, the Centro Allerta Tsunami of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (hereinafter CAT-INGV) promoted a survey to investigate tsunami’s risk perception in two pilot regions of Southern Italy, Calabria and Apulia, providing a stratified sample of 1021 interviewees representing about 3.2mln people living in 183 coastal municipalities of two regions subjected (along with Sicily) to relatively high probability to be hit by a tsunami. Results show that people’s perception and understanding of tsunami are affected by media accounts of large tsunamis of 2004 (Sumatra) and 2011 (Tohoku, North East Japan): television emerged as the most relevant source of knowledge for almost 90 % of the sample, and the influence of media also results in the way tsunami risk is characterized. Risk perception appears to be low: for almost half of the sample the occurrence of a tsunami in the Mediterranean sea is considered quite unlikely. Furthermore, the survey’s results show that the word tsunami occupies a different semantic space with respect to the Italian traditional headword maremoto, with differences among sample strata. In other words, the same physical phenomenon would be understood in two different ways by younger, educated people and elders with low education level. Also belonging to different coastal areas appears to have a significant influence on the way tsunami hazard is conceived, having a stronger effect on risk characterization, for instance the interviewees of Tyrrhenian Calabria are more likely to associate tsunami risk to volcanoes with respect to other considered coastlines. The results of this study provide a relevant account of the issues at a stake, also entailing important implication both for risk communication and mitigation policies.

Description: Worldwide, contaminated water sources constitute the main risk factor for several diseases and represent 2.2% of global deaths. El Salvador is a country with lower water availability per habitant and with more degraded environmental conditions compared with the other countries in Central America. The aim of this study is to identify the association between safe water availability and the self-perceived health status, considering the sense of community as a possible protective factor of this relationship in rural areas of El Salvador. This study has been carried out as part of the international cooperation project “Agua Futura.” A total of 159 inhabitants of rural El Salvador areas were face-to-face interviewed about the acquisition, use, and storage of water, and the Household Water InSecurity Experiences Scale, the Short Form-12, and the Sense of Community Index-2 were administrated. Results showed negative associations between the water insecurity and the health-related quality of life, mainly mental health. Moreover, the interaction between the sense of community and water insecurity was a significant predictor in the majority of the mental health outcomes, highlighting that the sense of community could have a main role of mediator in the association between the scarcity of water and the mental health outcomes. This study suggests that the water scarcity may lead to poor mental health, and that a stronger sense of community could be a protective factor of the quality of life in people who are experiencing scarce water availability.

Description: Author Disclosure Statement This paper was published with financial support of AICS, Italian Agency for International Cooperation of MAE, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs. Contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the point of view of the Agency. Funding Information This work was carried out in the frame of Project Agua Futura (AID 11458) coordinated by IGG-CNR and funded by AICS-MAE of Republic of Italy. Field activity was also supported by ANDA (Administration Nacional de Acqueductos y Alcantarillados del El Salvador) and MARN (Ministerio del Medio Ambiente, Republica de El Salvador).

Description: In press

Description: 7SR AMBIENTE – Servizi e ricerca per la società

Description: N/A or not JCR

Description: La continua attività di formazione del personale a tempo indeterminato e determinato coinvolto nelle attività di sorveglianza H24 all’Osservatorio Etneo (OE), all’Osservatorio Nazionale Terremoti (ONT) e all’Osservatorio Vesuviano (OV), costituisce uno degli obiettivi istituzionali dell’Ente. Per questa ragione, le attività formative previste devono essere necessariamente coerenti sia con gli obiettivi istituzionali rappresentati dal Piano Triennale delle Attività, sia con le finalità concordate nell’Accordo Quadro con il Dipartimento della Protezione Civile (DPC). L’attività formativa nell’ambito dei servizi di sorveglianza riveste, dunque, una specifica rilevanza strategica in continua evoluzione, anche alla luce dell’aggiornamento delle procedure e dello sviluppo tecnologico in atto nelle Sale Operative dell’OE, dell’ONT e dell’OV. Nell’ambito del progetto “S.O.I.R. monitoraggio futuro”, sono stati progettati e realizzati dei corsi di formazione e aggiornamento per il personale operante nelle tre Sale Operative con l’obiettivo principale di i) consolidare il livello delle conoscenze di base; ii) migliorare l’interazione tra le Sale; iii) standardizzare e ottimizzare le procedure e iv) approfondire la conoscenza dei nuovi parametri che, nell’ambito del presente progetto, saranno introdotti nelle Sale Operative (geomagnetici, ionosferici, da osservatori sottomarini, geochimici, ecc.).

Description: Published

Description: 145-149

Description: 1TM. Formazione

Description: N/A or not JCR

Description: Nel seminario sono trattati gli argomenti psicologici che contribuiscono a definire il tema del benessere lavorativo e organizzativo e nella seconda parte della giornata si svolgeranno attività pratiche sui temi del benessere. I temi teorici affrontati riguardano il Benessere organizzativo da un punto di vista psicologico: concetti generali, cos’è, come si rileva, quali indicatori sono utilizzati, quali modalità di intervento.

Description: Direzione Generale INGV

Description: Unpublished

Description: Aula Conferenze – Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia,– NAPOLI.

Description: 1TM. Formazione

Description: We present the results of an ongoing research for assessing tsunami risk perception in southern Italy. The study is motivated by the need of addressing a sound communication strategy for tsunami risk reduction, related to the activities of the Tsunami Alert Centre (CAT) of INGV, operating within the framework of the Italian civil protection system. The area of the second step of this study includes five regions of Italy (Basilicata, Calabria, Molise, Puglia, Sicily), facing on Adriatic, Ionian and Tyrrhenian seas, located in one of the most hazardous areas of the Mediterranean. In all the area the memory of relevant tsunamis is loose, since the last destructive event dates back to 1908 (due to the Messina-Reggio Calabria M~7 earthquake). The main goal of this study is to verify how people’s perception of tsunami risk compares with the hazard assessed by scientific data, and which are the main factors controlling people’s knowledge and awareness. We analysed a sample of more than 1,600 interviewees representing about 4 million people living in the coastal municipalities of the five considered regions. Results show that risk perception appears to be generally low, with significant differences among different areas, likely due to the the time elapsed since the last events. The survey results for the first two investigated regions (Calabria and Puglia, see Cerase et al., NHESS, 2019) showed that people’s perception and understanding of tsunamis are affected by media accounts of the mega-tsunamis of Sumatra 2004 and Japan 2011. At the same time, the risk posed by small tsunamis is basically underrated or neglected, posing some critical questions for risk mitigation strategies, particularly in touristic areas. Furthermore, the survey’s results show that for lay people the word ‘tsunami’ has a different meaning with respect to the Italian traditional word ‘maremoto’, implying that the same physical phenomenon would be understood in two different ways by younger, educated people and elders with low education level. In addition, people have high expectations from authorities, CPAs, research institutions about warnings. Moreover, living in different coastal areas appears to have a significant influence on the way tsunami hazard is perceived: Interviewees of Tyrrhenian Calabria are more likely to associate tsunami risk to volcanoes with respect to those living in the Ionian coastal areas, coherently with the presence of Aeolian volcanic islands and feared submarine volcanoes in the Tyrrhenian. A somehow unexpected result is that TV emerges as the most relevant source of knowledge for 90% of the sample. Some categories declared to prefer getting early warnings through broadcast media and sirens rather than receiving by SMS or apps, suggesting the need for redundancy and modulation of EW messages. We will present an update of the survey which is presently ongoing, related to the five regions. These results could help in addressing risk communication and mitigation policies.

Description: Published

Description: Online

Description: 2SR TERREMOTI - Gestione delle emergenze sismiche e da maremoto

Description: Social distancing, as experienced by the Italian population during the COVID-19 outbreak, generated the long-term activation of stress-response in individuals. This has been a crucial opportunity to study the coping strategies that people put in place to adapt their lives and habits to such a unique condition. For this reason, we have investigated both emotion-focused and problem-oriented coping strategies among the Italian population by relating them to other structural factors, such as social, economic and cultural conditions.

Description: Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate The study was approved by the National Ethics Committee of the National Institute for Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani I.R.C.C.S. of Rome, Italy. Availability of Data and Material All the data considered in this paper were obtained from OSC COVID-19 by CNR. Funding This study was supported by the Institute for Research on Population and Social Policies of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR-Irpps) in partnership with the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV).

Description: Published

Description: 10860 - 10866

Description: 2TM. Divulgazione Scientifica

Description: JCR Journal

Description: Social distancing is crucial in order to flatten the curve of COVID-19 virus spreading. Isolation, scarcity of resources and the lack of social contacts may have produced a negative impact on people's emotions and psychological well-being. This study aims to explore the reasons and the ways through which social distancing generates negative emotions in individuals who experienced the lockdown. To a larger extent, the objective is to check the existence of relations between negative emotions and the satisfaction of basic needs.

Description: Published

Description: 7155-7163

Description: 2TM. Divulgazione Scientifica

Description: JCR Journal

Description: The management of emotional and psychological aspects in Italy has become an integral part of civil protection measures in case of disasters. This, compared to the past, represented by a side a step forward in terms of awards for psychological and psychosocial on the contrary suffers from a health and welfare approach which limits intervention psychological support and assistance of victims of a disaster. This impoverishes the contribution that psychology and social sciences can make in terms of prevention in primary (before the events) as educational interventions for risk reduction. In this context fits the interventions made since the earthquake Abruzzo April 6, 2009.

Description: INGV - Centro Servizi - Laboratorio di Didattica e Divulgazione Scientifica, Roma INGV - Centro Nazionale Terremoti (COES)

Description: Unpublished

Description: 5.9. Formazione e informazione

Description: open

Description: Obiettivo: Facendo seguito a uno studio portato avanti nell’ambito di Miti e Geologia (Lanza & Negrete 2007) si sono volute sperimentare alcune conclusioni di quello studio che caldeggiava l’utilizzo di miti e leggende popolari in ambito scolastico per la diffusione della conoscenza riguardante il nostro pianeta. Il target che era all’inizio rappresentato dai bambini di seconda e quarta elementare (della Scuola primaria Federico Di Donato di Roma) si è poi esteso anche agli insegnanti e persino ai genitori di quegli alunni vedendoli tutti coinvolti come soggetti attivi nell’ambito di questo progetto. Il coinvolgimento e l’entusiasmo partecipativo si è sviluppato anche in seguito alla modalità di realizzazione di questo progetto iniziale. La leggenda del pescatore Colapesce è stata ripresa e riadattata in uno script per celebrare il centenario del terremoto di Messina (1908) ai fini di una vera e propria rappresentazione teatrale fatta dai bambini. Dunque lo script alla fine conteneva non soltanto la favola con i suoi protagonisti classici: un Re, una principessa e un pescatore ma anche una parte più moderna dove i protagonisti erano un gruppetto di sismologi interpretati da alcuni bambini di quarta elementare. L’inserimento di contenuti scientifici all’interno della rappresentazione è stata resa agevolmente possibile con l’introduzione di oggetti, quali una mappa della sismicità in Italia e un sismometro. Oggetti che hanno consentito agli alunni di comprendere non soltanto come si studiano i terremoti ma anche che la prevenzione è il metodo migliore per conviverci. Dopo tre mesi di preparazione ottenuta anche grazie alla collaborazione di un regista di Messina coadiuvato da un esperto in psico-dramma, gli alunni erano pronti per recitare davanti a tutta la scuola nell’ambito della XIX settimana della cultura scientifica (il 27 Marzo 2009). A giudicare dall’entusiasmo generale di tutti, attori, spettatori e organizzatori è stato un successo. Tuttavia se la rappresentazione finale costituisce l’ultima tappa, di fondamentale importanza sarà valutare come si è sviluppato l’apprendimento nel corso dei tre mesi di preparazione a questo evento e quanto rimarrà a qualche mese di distanza soprattutto del contenuto scientifico agito sulla scena. Mentre un altro aspetto assumerà valutare quanto il contenuto favolistico abbia ben disposto gli alunni ad accogliere nozioni nuove e quanto invece li abbia distratti (soprattutto i più piccoli, quelli di seconda elementare). Si può far notare che l’apprendimento ha coinvolto attivamente anche gli insegnanti che non soltanto si sono mostrati piacevolmente disponibili ad approfondire i contenuti scientifici ai fini della rappresentazione, ma hanno utilizzato gli stessi per scegliere gli attori e per suggerire modifiche allo script iniziale. Attualmente sono in corso delle analisi con questionari per alunni e insegnanti al fine di individuarne l’efficacia comunicativa e tirare le conclusioni di questa esperienza.

Description: Unpublished

Description: Fondazione Idis Città della scienza di Napoli

Description: 5.9. Formazione e informazione

Description: open