Insights gained into geo-hydrological disaster management 25 years after the catastrophic landslides of 1998 in southern Italy

Abstract

Understanding how natural processes may turn into disasters represents a key aspect to the implementation of effective risk reduction strategies. Within this framework, the current study aimed to document positive and negative experiences related to one of the deadliest landslide disasters in Italy, in which 160 people lost their lives, 115 were injured, and 1210 became homeless. The disaster took place on May 5, 1998, after nine days of continuous rainfall, in five towns of the Campania region (southern Italy) which were struck by hundreds of shallow landslides that evolved into rapid and extremely rapid debris/hyperconcentrated flows. Our analysis focused on the early response phase of the disaster, and highlighted numerous human shortcomings which amplified the impact on the population. The human loss was relatively contained by a reactive behavior of many citizens that as soon after the first flows, occurred in the afternoon of May 5, left their houses.We also provided a summary of non-structural prevention measures prompted by the disaster that were realized at the national scale during the next 23 years, together with useful findings for evaluating their effectiveness. Some criticisms affecting the policies in effect were also discussed. Information and examples reported in the current study may assist with the development and implementation of geo-hydrological risk mitigation strategies in other parts of the world, since landslide disasters similar to the one described in this article continue to occur worldwide.