Abstract
Abstract. In the Piedmont Region (North-Western Italy), the regional authorities manage debris flow risk by following the ideal sequence of steps that are generally pursued in land planning and civil protection activities. Complex procedures and methods are elaborated and widely discussed with politicians, economists and the general public. On the contrary, in emergency situations, civil protection agencies generally prefer the adoption of simple and flexible criteria. In this paper, a catastrophic debris flow event, that occurred in 2008 in Villar Pellice, is described in this perspective, after an analysis of the triggering rainfalls and of the effects on human life and properties. The availability of a series of personal accounts coming from people who witnessed the occurrences before, during and after the event has allowed us to analyse, in detail, the dynamics of the event. Thanks to these accounts, it has been possible to propose new guidelines for the planning of the emergency activities in areas that are potentially prone to similar impulsive phenomena.
Highlights
The hazard mapping techniques commonly used in the Piedmont Region generally rely on the collection of field data, the execution of field surveys and the application of models to identify the debris-flow prone areas on the alluvial fans
The efficiency and the effectiveness of both the territorial planning and the civil protection strategies have been tested during a recent debris-flow event, which occurred on 29 May 2008 in the locality of Garin, in the Villar Pellice municipality
The debris flow that occurred in Piedmont in May 2008 shows that the present system for territorial hazard mapping and civil protection interventions needs to be improved
Summary
The hazard mapping techniques commonly used in the Piedmont Region generally rely on the collection of field data, the execution of field surveys and the application of models to identify the debris-flow prone areas on the alluvial fans. Decision makers follow procedures that allow the finding of the most profitable countermeasures to reduce the hazards and the risk, as well as to monitor the processes on the alluvial fans. In emergency situations, just before or soon after the occurrence of a debris-flow process, the authorities cannot follow similar strategies to take their most urgent decisions and manage both hazard and risk. The efficiency and the effectiveness of both the territorial planning and the civil protection strategies have been tested during a recent debris-flow event, which occurred on 29 May 2008 in the locality of Garin, in the Villar Pellice municipality (near Turin). The occurrence of catastrophic events forces regional and local authorities to make a revision of hazard mapping, as well as discuss the efficiency of civil protection procedures and the Garin debris flow was certainly one of these events. The relatively low frequency of occurrences of debris flow is deceptive, considering that debris flows are generally more destructive than floods and much more unpredictable
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