SURVEYS ON THE PERCEPTION OF NATURAL HAZARDS AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY: RESULTS FROM TWO CASE STUDIES

An increase in frequency of extreme meteorological events with the consequent occurrences of landslides and floods is one of most dangerous effects on the territories of climate change. Therefore, it is urgent to take measures for reducing the risks for the population. The first step aiming to develop these actions is the analysis of public risk perception. In this paper, some results of two surveys carried out in public high schools of two regions of Italy (Umbria and Calabria) about the social perception of natural risks, mainly referring to geo-hydrological risk, and of climate change are shown. We mainly focus on three main issues: knowledge, information and trust. The results showed that the risk of an earthquake is the most perceived among the natural ones by the younger people of Umbria. The students of Calabria have shown a high sensitivity to the climate change issue, perhaps influenced by the various events promoted by Greta Thunberg in 2019 on this problem. Regarding information, for young people of both Umbria and Calabria, "internet and social networks" are among the most used means, with a growing trend over the years. For trust, both the surveys have shown a greater trust towards the subjects who operate at national level for the safety of citizens (police, firefighters, civil protection) rather than towards local administrators.