The study focuses on circumstances that affect people during periods of bad weather conditions ch... more The study focuses on circumstances that affect people during periods of bad weather conditions characterised by winds, rainfall, landslides, flooding, and storm surges. A methodological approach and its application to a study area in southern Italy are presented here. A 10-yr database was generated by mining data from a newspaper. Damaging agents were sorted into five types: flood, urban flooding, landslide, wind, and storm surge. Damage to people occurred in 126 cases, causing 13 victims, 129 injured and about 782 people involved but not injured.
Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 2010
A methodological approach based on analysing landslides that occurred over a long period and clim... more A methodological approach based on analysing landslides that occurred over a long period and climatic data characterising that period is presented. The method investigates whether there are any effects of climate on landslide triggering. The approach has been tested in Calabria (Italy). Both landslide and climatic data have been obtained from available databases that have been expanded. Landslide data came from historical archives and newspapers, while the climatic analysis is based on daily and monthly series of rainfall and temperature. The method simplifies the comparative analysis of several time series by defining some indices (the monthly, bimonthly , and … mmonthly indices of precipitation, temperature, wet days and precipitation, and the monthly landslide number) that can be used to study phenomena, such as landslides, that are characterised by spatial and temporal variability. For Calabria, the number of landslides is correlated to monthly precipitation, wet days and precipitation intensity. Thus, landslide occurrence could be roughly forecasted using these climatic data. Despite the favourable climatic trend, landslides are not decreasing because the recent utilisation of landslide-prone areas increases the vulnerability.
This paper presents a methodological approach to both identifying and characterising Widespread L... more This paper presents a methodological approach to both identifying and characterising Widespread Landslide Events (WLE), defined as the occurrence of several landslides through wide areas (thousands of square kilometres). This approach is based on a comparative analysis of two historical databases: a rainfall database and a landslide database, both concerning the same period. This methodology was tested on Calabria (Southern Italy) by analysing a period of more than 80 yr. The data allowed the individuation of 25 WLEs generated by the following: (a) a single rainfall event (RE), (b) a few distinct but temporarily close REs, or (c) several consecutive REs occurring over a period of up to two months. An empirical curve, obtained by interpolating the number of landslides occurred during the WLEs and the average values of cumulative rainfall that triggered them enables the individuation of the relationship between rainfall and number of landslides. The proposed methodological approach can be used wherever historical series of both rainfall and landslides are available. The results can be useful for monitoring the development of events and for the planning of emergency management.
The contribution presents the database on floods that is being developed in the framework of HYME... more The contribution presents the database on floods that is being developed in the framework of HYMEX project and the preliminary results obtained for the NW sector of Mediterranean region. This database contains data on damages and the main hydrometeorological features of each reported event. The study is included in one of the objectives of the Working Group 5, which is a transversal group of the HYMEX project dealing with all the aspects related to societal and ecological impacts of hydrometeorological extremes, as well as their perception and communication processes. One of the main points of the WG5 is the creation of a common database on floods and their societal impact, for the Mediterranean region, as well as its analysis. Although some databases already exist and are frequently consulted, they are mainly focused on "major" catastrophic events. But the Mediterranean region experiences every year a high number of minor flash-floods that, considered in their totality, produce important losses and disruptions of the everyday life. This contribution is focused on North-Eastern Spain, South of Italy and South-East of France and the objective is to include all the floods that have produced damages, although they are not considered as "major" disasters.
Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research, 2013
In this chapter, based on the data available in a regional database, some severe damaging hydroge... more In this chapter, based on the data available in a regional database, some severe damaging hydrogeological events (DHEs) occurred in the last century in Calabria (Italy) have been described in terms of both triggering rain and damaging effects. Among the analyzed cases, there are only three long standing events (1951, 1953 and 1972), while the others are shorter. As far as the triggering rain, the 1951 and 1953 events are still not surpassed, and fortunately it is the same for the number of victims. If we consider the event occurred on 2000 as an exception caused by the negligence of the municipality that allowed a campsite so close to the river, the number of victims per event shows a decreasing trend. This can be a normal evolution which occurs in developed countries, where, because of an improving event management, damage to people tend do decrease and damage to goods to increase. The seasonality is clear: the majority of the events occurred between September and November, which in Calabria are the rainiest months. In terms of damaging phenomena, landslides were always the most frequent type. Greatest damage, especially in terms of victims, was caused by floods, the effects of which were often amplified by sea storms. The interrelations between the different phenomena, as the relationship between floods and landslides carrying debris into the river network and the connection between floods and sea storms, confirm that DHEs have to be studied with a general approach and taking into consideration all the phenomena and their interrelation which can amplify damage and cause cascading effects.
ABSTRACT Si definisce Evento Alluvionale (EA) l’insorgere simultaneo, a seguito di periodi piovos... more ABSTRACT Si definisce Evento Alluvionale (EA) l’insorgere simultaneo, a seguito di periodi piovosi, di frane, piene e/o allagamenti responsabili di danni a beni e/o persone. Si propone una classificazione degli EA basata sull’uso di dati storici. Distribuzione e ricorrenza degli EA sono discusse a confronto con le variabili climatiche, con riferimento alle piogge innescanti e agli effetti del trend climatico su tali variabili. Si considerano la ricorrenza, l’estensione dell’area colpita e la gravità dei danni, nonché il tempo di ritorno, la durata critica delle piogge innescanti e la piovosità totale nelle aree colpite. La metodologia è stata applicata alla Locride (Calabria SE), un’area di 686 km2, per la quale l’analisi si basa su 24 EA verificatisi in 80 anni. L’analisi mostra che tendenzialmente gli eventi non presentano una maggiore ricorrenza e che l’area colpita si riduce nel caso di eventi rara eccezionalità.
Si propone una metodologia per lo studio di Eventi Idrogeologici Dannosi (EID) basata sul confron... more Si propone una metodologia per lo studio di Eventi Idrogeologici Dannosi (EID) basata sul confronto fra i dati storici sui dissesti innescati da precipitazioni meteoriche e le piogge giornaliere. Un'applicazione della metodologia alla regione Calabria (Italia meridionale) utilizzando un periodo di studio di 10 anni evidenzia che il settore orientale della regione è il più frequentemente affetto da EID regionali, innescati da piogge con periodi di ritorno inferiori a 10 anni. Il settore NW presenta la maggiore vulnerabilità, essendo colpito da danni consistenti a seguito di piogge che solo in poche stazioni mostrano eccezionalità. Strade ed edilizia privata sono gli elementi più danneggiati.
The study focuses on circumstances that affect people during periods of bad weather conditions ch... more The study focuses on circumstances that affect people during periods of bad weather conditions characterised by winds, rainfall, landslides, flooding, and storm surges. A methodological approach and its application to a study area in southern Italy are presented here. A 10-yr database was generated by mining data from a newspaper. Damaging agents were sorted into five types: flood, urban flooding, landslide, wind, and storm surge. Damage to people occurred in 126 cases, causing 13 victims, 129 injured and about 782 people involved but not injured.
Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 2010
A methodological approach based on analysing landslides that occurred over a long period and clim... more A methodological approach based on analysing landslides that occurred over a long period and climatic data characterising that period is presented. The method investigates whether there are any effects of climate on landslide triggering. The approach has been tested in Calabria (Italy). Both landslide and climatic data have been obtained from available databases that have been expanded. Landslide data came from historical archives and newspapers, while the climatic analysis is based on daily and monthly series of rainfall and temperature. The method simplifies the comparative analysis of several time series by defining some indices (the monthly, bimonthly , and … mmonthly indices of precipitation, temperature, wet days and precipitation, and the monthly landslide number) that can be used to study phenomena, such as landslides, that are characterised by spatial and temporal variability. For Calabria, the number of landslides is correlated to monthly precipitation, wet days and precipitation intensity. Thus, landslide occurrence could be roughly forecasted using these climatic data. Despite the favourable climatic trend, landslides are not decreasing because the recent utilisation of landslide-prone areas increases the vulnerability.
This paper presents a methodological approach to both identifying and characterising Widespread L... more This paper presents a methodological approach to both identifying and characterising Widespread Landslide Events (WLE), defined as the occurrence of several landslides through wide areas (thousands of square kilometres). This approach is based on a comparative analysis of two historical databases: a rainfall database and a landslide database, both concerning the same period. This methodology was tested on Calabria (Southern Italy) by analysing a period of more than 80 yr. The data allowed the individuation of 25 WLEs generated by the following: (a) a single rainfall event (RE), (b) a few distinct but temporarily close REs, or (c) several consecutive REs occurring over a period of up to two months. An empirical curve, obtained by interpolating the number of landslides occurred during the WLEs and the average values of cumulative rainfall that triggered them enables the individuation of the relationship between rainfall and number of landslides. The proposed methodological approach can be used wherever historical series of both rainfall and landslides are available. The results can be useful for monitoring the development of events and for the planning of emergency management.
The contribution presents the database on floods that is being developed in the framework of HYME... more The contribution presents the database on floods that is being developed in the framework of HYMEX project and the preliminary results obtained for the NW sector of Mediterranean region. This database contains data on damages and the main hydrometeorological features of each reported event. The study is included in one of the objectives of the Working Group 5, which is a transversal group of the HYMEX project dealing with all the aspects related to societal and ecological impacts of hydrometeorological extremes, as well as their perception and communication processes. One of the main points of the WG5 is the creation of a common database on floods and their societal impact, for the Mediterranean region, as well as its analysis. Although some databases already exist and are frequently consulted, they are mainly focused on "major" catastrophic events. But the Mediterranean region experiences every year a high number of minor flash-floods that, considered in their totality, produce important losses and disruptions of the everyday life. This contribution is focused on North-Eastern Spain, South of Italy and South-East of France and the objective is to include all the floods that have produced damages, although they are not considered as "major" disasters.
Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research, 2013
In this chapter, based on the data available in a regional database, some severe damaging hydroge... more In this chapter, based on the data available in a regional database, some severe damaging hydrogeological events (DHEs) occurred in the last century in Calabria (Italy) have been described in terms of both triggering rain and damaging effects. Among the analyzed cases, there are only three long standing events (1951, 1953 and 1972), while the others are shorter. As far as the triggering rain, the 1951 and 1953 events are still not surpassed, and fortunately it is the same for the number of victims. If we consider the event occurred on 2000 as an exception caused by the negligence of the municipality that allowed a campsite so close to the river, the number of victims per event shows a decreasing trend. This can be a normal evolution which occurs in developed countries, where, because of an improving event management, damage to people tend do decrease and damage to goods to increase. The seasonality is clear: the majority of the events occurred between September and November, which in Calabria are the rainiest months. In terms of damaging phenomena, landslides were always the most frequent type. Greatest damage, especially in terms of victims, was caused by floods, the effects of which were often amplified by sea storms. The interrelations between the different phenomena, as the relationship between floods and landslides carrying debris into the river network and the connection between floods and sea storms, confirm that DHEs have to be studied with a general approach and taking into consideration all the phenomena and their interrelation which can amplify damage and cause cascading effects.
ABSTRACT Si definisce Evento Alluvionale (EA) l’insorgere simultaneo, a seguito di periodi piovos... more ABSTRACT Si definisce Evento Alluvionale (EA) l’insorgere simultaneo, a seguito di periodi piovosi, di frane, piene e/o allagamenti responsabili di danni a beni e/o persone. Si propone una classificazione degli EA basata sull’uso di dati storici. Distribuzione e ricorrenza degli EA sono discusse a confronto con le variabili climatiche, con riferimento alle piogge innescanti e agli effetti del trend climatico su tali variabili. Si considerano la ricorrenza, l’estensione dell’area colpita e la gravità dei danni, nonché il tempo di ritorno, la durata critica delle piogge innescanti e la piovosità totale nelle aree colpite. La metodologia è stata applicata alla Locride (Calabria SE), un’area di 686 km2, per la quale l’analisi si basa su 24 EA verificatisi in 80 anni. L’analisi mostra che tendenzialmente gli eventi non presentano una maggiore ricorrenza e che l’area colpita si riduce nel caso di eventi rara eccezionalità.
Si propone una metodologia per lo studio di Eventi Idrogeologici Dannosi (EID) basata sul confron... more Si propone una metodologia per lo studio di Eventi Idrogeologici Dannosi (EID) basata sul confronto fra i dati storici sui dissesti innescati da precipitazioni meteoriche e le piogge giornaliere. Un'applicazione della metodologia alla regione Calabria (Italia meridionale) utilizzando un periodo di studio di 10 anni evidenzia che il settore orientale della regione è il più frequentemente affetto da EID regionali, innescati da piogge con periodi di ritorno inferiori a 10 anni. Il settore NW presenta la maggiore vulnerabilità, essendo colpito da danni consistenti a seguito di piogge che solo in poche stazioni mostrano eccezionalità. Strade ed edilizia privata sono gli elementi più danneggiati.
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