MAIN LANDSLIDE EVENTS

    Descrizione 1
    Update date
    Authors

    Elisa Brustia, Gianluigi Di Paola, Carla Iadanza, Alessandro Trigila

    Abstract
    Immagine
    Abstract

    The indicator provides information about the major landslide events caused fatalities, injuries, evacuations, damage to buildings, cultural heritage, and primary linear communication infrastructure or service networks in the national territory in the past year. The major landslide events occurred in 2023 were 192, with 11 deaths, 24 injuries, and damage mainly to the road network and buildings.

    Description

    The indicator provides information about the major landslide events that occurred in the national territory in the past year. Major landslide events are defined as those that have caused fatalities/missing people, injuries, evacuations, damage to buildings, cultural heritage, and primary linear communication infrastructure or service networks. A major landslide event may also refer to multiple landslides triggered in a specific area within a certain time frame (usually within 24 hours) and caused by the same triggering factor (rainfall event, earthquake). The collected parameters include event date, landslide location (locality, municipality, province, and region), the description, and the damage. The data is sourced from technical reports produced by ISPRA, regions and Autonomous Provinces of Trento and Bolzano, ARPA, Civil Protection, Functional Centers, CNR, local authorities, press releases from Autostrade, ANAS, and FS, and news sources. From 2010 to 2020, in previous database releases and related publications, the indicator was titled "Landslide Events"

    Purpose

    To provide the major landslide events overview occurred in the past year along the national territory due to meteorological-rainfall, seismic, or anthropogenic causes.

    Policy relevance and utility for users
    It is of national scope or it is applicable to environmental issues at the regional level but of national relevance.
    It is simple and easy to interpret.
    It is sensitive to changes occurring in the environment and/or in human activities
    It provides a representative picture of environmental conditions, environmental pressures, and societal responses
    It provides a basis for international comparisons.
    Analytical soundness
    Be theoretically well founded in technical and scientific terms
    Measurability (data)
    Adequately documented and of known quality
    Readily available or made available at a reasonable cost/benefit ratio
    An “adequate” spatial coverage
    Main regulatory references and objectives

    Collection, processing, archiving, and dissemination of data related to soil protection and hydrogeological instability for whole national territory (Articles 55 and 60 of Legislative Decree 152/2006 "Environmental Regulations"); updating of the Italian Landslide Inventory (Article 6, paragraph 1, letter g of Law 132/2016).

    DPSIR
    State
    Impact
    Indicator type
    Descriptive (A)
    References

    ISPRA - Trigila A., Iadanza C., Lastoria B., Bussettini M., Barbano A. (2021), Dissesto idrogeologico in Italia: pericolosità e indicatori di rischio - Edizione 2021. Rapporti 356/2021.

    Limitations

    The indicator reports only the major landslide events in the national territory that caused damage to people, buildings, cultural heritage, primary communication infrastructure, and service networks.

    Further actions

    -

    Frequenza di rilevazione dei dati
    Continua
    Fonte dei dati
    Agenzie Regionali e delle Province Autonome per la Protezione dell'Ambiente
    CNR (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche)
    Enti Gestori delle infrastrutture
    ISPRA
    Protezione Civile
    Province Autonome
    Regioni
    Siti Internet
    Data availabilty

    Event reports on websites of autonomous regions and provinces, ARPA, Civil Defense, Functional Centers, CNR, local authorities; Press releases on websites of Autostrade, ANAS and FS; Online news sources.

    Spatial coverage

    National, Regional, Provincial, Municipalities

    Time coverage

    2010-2023

    Processing methodology

    For each year, the sum of deaths/missing persons and injuries was calculated, and the types of damage (to buildings, cultural heritage, primary linear communication infrastructure, and service networks) caused by the major landslide events that occurred in the national territory were identified. In cases where the source reports only the number of evacuated families, the number of people evacuated was estimated using a coefficient of 2.3 individuals per family.

    Update frequency
    Year
    Qualità dell'informazione

    The indicator addresses the demand for information about the number of major landslide events that occurred in the past year in the national territory and the damage they caused; it provides a basis for international comparisons. Comparability over time and space is limited by the partial heterogeneity of data and acquisition methods.

    State
    Undefinable
    Trend
    Undefinable
    State assessment/description

    In 2023, the major landslide events were 192, causing 11 deaths, 24 injuries, and damage primarily to the road network and buildings.

    Trend assessment/description

    The fluctuations in the number of major landslide events recorded annually from 2010 to 2023 are related to the rainfall regime during the year, the occurrence of significant seismic events, and the aforementioned heterogeneity of baseline data and acquisition methods. Currently, a trend for the indicator cannot be assessed due to the limited historical data series available and the partial heterogeneity of the baseline data and acquisition methods.

    Comments

    From January to December 2023, the major landslide events were 192, causing 11 deaths and 24 injuries, with damage mainly to the road network and buildings (Figure 1 and Table 1). The major landslide events were distributed along the Italian territory, particularly in the Lombardy region, the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, Emilia-Romagna, Piedmont, the Autonomous Province of Trento, Liguria, Tuscany, and Campania.
    In May 2023, two exceptional rainfall events in rapid succession (May 1-3 and May 16-17) affected the central-eastern territory of Emilia-Romagna, triggering/reactivating over 80,000 landslides, mostly small in size (over 70% less than 1,000 m²), with damage to infrastructure and buildings. The overall economic damage caused by floods and landslides was estimated by the regional administration to be 8.6 billion euros.
    Starting on October 30, 2023, heavy rainfall caused landslides in various regions of central-northern Italy (provinces of Bolzano and Trento, regions of Veneto, Piedmont, Liguria, and Tuscany), such as the landslide in Rezzoaglio (GE) along the SS586.
    Other major landslide events in 2023 included: the rockfall on January 5, which affected the hillside behind several homes on Via Creva in Luino (VA); the rockfall in San Fratello (ME) on May 13, which affected some homes, leading to the evacuation of 100 people; the 500 m³ rockfall on May 19, which involved the railway tunnel on SP 72 in Fiumelatte (LC); the debris flow in Bardonecchia (TO) on August 13, which affected the Frejus stream, causing damage to garages, ground floors of several buildings, and roads; the debris flow of about 12-15 thousand cubic meters of material in the Passo Tre Croci area in Cortina d'Ampezzo (BL) on August 28, which led to the closure of the SR48 Dolomites road and the evacuation of 70 people from a hotel and some homes; and the mud and debris flow on the same day (August 28), which caused damage to homes in the Capovico district of Blevio (CO) and on the SP 583 Lariana road.
    From 2010 to 2023, the provinces most affected by major landslide events were Bolzano, Salerno, Genoa, Trento, Messina, Belluno, and Aosta, with more than 50 major landslide events (Figure 2).
    Regarding the economic quantification of the damage caused by landslides and the resources allocated, generally, only the aggregated data for floods + landslides are available (see Environmental Indicator Database - Flood Events -), and it is not possible to derive the data for each landslide event or the annual total.

    Data
    Headline

    Tabella 1: Principali eventi franosi (2023)

    Data source

    Elaborazione ISPRA su dati SNPA, CNR, Enti Gestori delle infrastrutture, Protezione Civile, Province Autonome, Regioni, siti internet

    Thumbnail
    Headline

    Figura 1: Principali eventi di frana nel periodo gennaio – dicembre 2023

    Data source

    ISPRA

    Thumbnail
    Headline

    Figura 2: Numero di eventi di frana principali nel periodo 2010-2023 su base provinciale

    Data source

    ISPRA

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