Since 2013, CIMA Resaerch Foundation is committed to supporting the municipality of Genoa in the creation of procedures to prevent and deal with the hydrogeological risk and forest fires. The project aims at implementing a complex system for a city of about 600,000 inhabitants extending over a 25-mile coastal area with 90 streams, many of which have been artificially conducted underground.
The first step was to support the municipality gaining a wider knowledge of very extensive and complex territory, characterized by having with many possible risk scenarios, both in quantity and typology, where alerting situations can occur in one single city area while the others are safe. This work has been done together with the city police force and the municipality and sub- municipalities’ technicians in order to map the critical points and streets to be closed in case of an alert.
A second step was to organize the territorial presidium, which is the creation of teams for monitoring the territory in its complexity and potential risk situations. Routes to be watched over were established, based on the knowledge of critical points. In case of a yellow alert 4 teams have the task of monitoring larger areas; the aggravating of the alert level increases the number of teams so that they can control a smaller area quicker (4 to 7 teams and then 7 to 14). A further step, since 90,000 inhabitants in Genoa live in flood-prone areas, was the mapping of the most vulnerable residential buildings in the territory.
As a result of these efforts, the Genoa’s municipality emergency plan approved in 2015 has become a best practice at national level. Over the years, CIMA Research Foundation has also been involved in training the local community operators, as well as in other forms of capacity building activities aimed at increasing the participation of the population and its risk awareness.