Approaches to communication in response to geo-hydrological risk: the European FP7 LAMPRE project and the Italian POLARIS web initiative

In a hyper-connected and social-networked, world increasingly vulnerable to geo-hydrological risks, communication plays a vital role in all phases of the disaster cycle. Scientific and technological innovation generating new products, tools, and services to cope with geo-hydrological events (e.g., landslides, debris flows and floods) must rely on effective communication strategies to address information needs of audiences with different needs through integrated communication channels. The Istituto di Ricerca per la Protezione Idrogeologica (IRPI), of the Italian Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), is conducting two complementary initiatives contributing in different ways and geographical scales to raise awareness about geo-hydrological risks, and their impact on society. At European level, IRPI is coordinating the 2-year collaborative research and development project LAMPRE (LAndslide Modelling and tools for vulnerability assessment Preparedness and REcovery management) to advance the limited understanding of vulnerability of built-up areas and infrastructures to event landslides, enhancing landslide risk mitigation/preparedness efforts, and post-event-landslide recovery/reconstruction activities through the exploitation of innovative Earth Observation based products and services. LAMPRE adopts a communication strategy to inform diverse organizations dealing with the adverse effects of landslides how the project results can improve their ability (i) to forecast the impact of landslide events, (ii) to assess the vulnerability to landslides of properties, infrastructures and the population, and (iii) to implement effective recovery and reconstruction plans. At national level, IRPI gathers information on landslides and floods with direct human consequences (e.g., deaths, missing persons, injured people) with the aim of evaluating the geo-hydrological risk for the Italian population. In this framework, IRPI has implemented the POLARIS website which publishes different information including: periodical reports on landslide and flood risk to the population of Italy, data and analyses on specific damaging events, and blog-posts on landslide and flood events encouraging citizens' participation to crowd-sourcing information.