Seismic risk perception in Italy deduced by a statistical sample

This study has benefited from funding provided by the Italian Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri - Dipartimento di Protezione Civile (DPC). The survey carried out on a statistical sample (N= 4,000) show preliminary results similar to those collected on the web (N. 9,000). Those data represent a good reference basis of the seismic perception of Italian population. Refer to these data allows us to better assess changes in seismic risk perception that occur after earthquakes or risk mitigation activities. The new questions on the characteristics of the house introduced in the questionnaire, should allow us a comparison between the perception of the vulnerability and vulnerability data reported by respondents. We think also to implement data analysis according to the semantic differential factors and the psychometric paradigm (Slovic, 2000). We consider that analysis of risk perception data is able to produce useful indications to design seismic risk reduction activities. The processing of the data collected on the seismic risk perception will give us detailed information on the na-tional territory to launch campaigns of awareness and improve risk education. We think that researches on the perception can give support to risk analysis and policy decisions because they help to understand and anticipate the responses of the public to the danger and help to improve communication and information between ordinary people, experts and policy makers