The document discusses building civil protection systems and Italy's experience with communications and risk management. It provides an overview of Italy's civil protection system, including its legal framework, structures for coordination, and roles for different authorities at national, regional, and local levels. It then examines communications and risk management in the context of Italy's experience, including how social media was used after the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake. Finally, it outlines some projects and tests using web 2.0 tools to support civil protection operations, such as during the response to the 2009 Abruzzo earthquake.

1. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Elena Rapisardi
16012010
1

2. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Are we ready?

3. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Are we ready to cope with risks?
Abruzzo Emergency - Earthquake, photo by Le avventure di Giufà flickr.com
 Anticipation of negative trends or events
 Administrative measures, legal framework
 Organisation, structures, methods, procedures
 Coordinated and prompt response

4. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Are we ready for web 2.0?
Photo by batega flickr.com
 to share
 to collaborate
 to communicate
 to cooperate
 to support
 to include - e.g. diversity

5. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Framework
1 The Italian Civil Protection System
Abruzzo Emergency - Earthquake, photo by Leonardo Hueber

6. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Civil Protection is the term widely used in Europe to describe the organized action
aimed at coping with collective threats caused by natural or human induced
disasters.

7. Building Civil Protection 2.0
What is Civil Protection?
Civil Protection is the term widely used in Europe to describe the organized action
aimed at coping with collective threats caused by natural or human induced
disasters.

8. Building Civil Protection 2.0
What is Civil Protection?
The Italian Law defines civil protection as complex system of governance for the
safeguard of human lives, health, economic assets, cultural and architectural
heritage, human settlements and environment from any kind of disaster either
natural or man made.

9. Building Civil Protection 2.0
The Civil Protection System
The Italian Legal Framework
Law no. 225 of 24 February 1992
The Civil Protection Authorities - Central Government, Regions, Provinces, Municipalities,
Municipal Districts and Mountain Communities
contribute to civil protection activities using their procedures and regulations
collaborate with central government, public agencies, institutes, scientific research
groups and organizations.

10. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Civil Protection Activities
Abruzzo Emergency - Rescue intervention, photo by DPC INGV Institute - Seismic monitoring Abruzzo Emergency Briefing at COM 4 - Operational Centre
Forecasting/Prevention/Mitigation
Emergency preparedness/Emergency planning
Response/Emergency Management
Recovery

11. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Structures Coordination
Interior National Fire-fighters Corp - Police -
Prefectures
Foreign Affairs
Environment ANPA
Health 118
Economy and Finance Revenue Guard Corp
Defence Army, Navy, Air Force, Carabinieri
Productive Activities G.R.T.N.
Transportation and Infrastructures Costal Guard – ANAS
Società Autostrade
Cultural Heritage and Activities Ferrovie dello Stato Group
I.N.G.V. - C.N.R.
Education, University and Research
National Research Institutes
Precidency of the Civil Protection Communications
Council of Ministers Department
Agricultural Policy and Forestry State Forest Corps
Regions Civil Protection regional bodies
Provinces Civil Protection provincial bodies
Mayor
Municipalities
Municipalities Volunteers Groups
Volunteers Associations

12. Building Civil Protection 2.0
The Italian Civil Protection System
Vertical and Horizontal Coordination
Vertical institutions and bodies at different territorial levels (State and Local)
Horizontal the actions of the different bodies of a single system and level (i.e. State or
Region) to achieve a common goal.

13. Building Civil Protection 2.0
The Italian Civil Protection System
Horizontal Coordination
It implies to be able to work in a cooperative way, avoiding any jealousy or partisan
behaviour, whether it is a Ministry or an agency.
The aim is that each one does its best in order to accomplish what, where and
when, is needed.

14. Building Civil Protection 2.0
The Italian Civil Protection System
Horizontal Coordination
Italian National Department of Civil Protection - Advertising Campaign
• 2.500organisations [associations and
by the Law 225/1992, paragraph 11 municipality groups]
FOREST FORCE - 1.000.000 volunteers
- time of response: 60.000 in 60 min
FIRE BRIGADE - time of response: 300.000 in few h
VOLUNTEERS ORGANISATIONS
ARMED FORCES
NATIONAL ALPINE
RESCUE CORPS
Operational Bodies at
National level
POLICE FORCE NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE
NATIONAL SCIENTIFIC
THE ITALIAN RED CROSS RESEARCH GROUPS

15. Building Civil Protection 2.0
The Role of the Volunteers
“They have a love for what they are doing,
which can only be captured through
values and attitudes”
[Knowles;1975]
Abruzzo Emergency - Volunteers and Population in Roio Piano Rescue Camp
By the Law 225 par. 11, the Volunteer Organisations are one of the key back bone of
the system, as the other national agencies and bodies
Volunteers Organisations autonomously organise informal and non-formal training
initiatives and participate to formal training programmes
Commitment and Experience are key to develop the ability to manage emergency
events

16. Building Civil Protection 2.0
The Civil Protection System
Vertical Coordination
Abruzzo Emergency - Earthquake, photo by Elena Rapisardi
Vertical coordination is based on “subsidiarity”, supported by the European Union.
Subsidiarity is the idea that the central authority should have a subsidiary function,
performing only those tasks which cannot be performed effectively at local level.

17. Building Civil Protection 2.0
The Local Authorities
Ambrogio Lorenzetti (Siena, 1290 – Siena, 1348)
20 Regions 104 Provinces 8.104 Municipalities
Municipalities, Provinces and Regions, thanks to their financial autonomy
are able to finance the “primary” service of civil protection;
have the duty to manage administrative functions in civil protection.

18. Building Civil Protection 2.0
The Role of the Mayor
The Mayor Local operative organizations
Technical offices
Informing the public
Local volunteers groups
Training
Welfare services
Preparedness
Municipal police
Emergency planning
Municipal workers
Mitigation Local Businesses
Forecasting City services
Knowledge Health services
Administrative and financial services

19. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Communications and Risk Management
2 The Italian Experience
Abruzzo Emergency - Earthquake, LʼAquila - Prefecture Palace

20. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Communications & Risk
Communications
communicating, communicating, communicating
s
Ma
s
ne
na
d
are
ge
Risk
me
ep
Pr
nt
Relief
Communications: the main tool to support the whole emergency
process
‣ preparedness
‣ management
‣ relief
Communications: crucial to allow the public to make decisions on
how to deal and cope with risk

21. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Map Content
external communications (public)
everyday emergency
internal communications

22. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Map Content
external communications (public)
news information
infotainment
edutainment
everyday emergency
internal communications

23. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Map Content
external communications (public)
news information information
infotainment news
edutainment self-protection
rescue info
everyday emergency
internal communications

24. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Map Content
external communications (public)
news information information
infotainment news
edutainment self-protection
rescue info
everyday emergency
information
knowledge
competencies
skills
internal communications

25. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Map Content
external communications (public)
news information information
infotainment news
edutainment self-protection
rescue info
everyday emergency
information information
knowledge procedures
competencies documents
skills
internal communications

26. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Who generates content in the web 2.0 era?
Institutions
Operators Volunteers
Research
Centres external
communications
everyday emergency
internal
communications
Media Citizens

27. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Earthquake
4/6/2009
03.36 am
Abruzzo, Italy

28. Building Civil Protection 2.0
LʼAquila - Earthquake 2009

29. Building Civil Protection 2.0
< terremoto abruzzo >
http://www.slideshare.net/Davide/
social-media-e-terremoto-in-abruzzo

30. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Abruzzo Earthquake
The first Italian emergency event in the
web 2.0 era
Soon after the earthquake ....
‣ 130 facebook groups
‣ thousands of messages, status, ...
‣ twitter messages
what for?
‣ to communicate fears, hopelessness,
‣ to inform on the victims and the rescue interventions
‣ to look for some friends, relatives, ...
‣ to share information on the overall situation
‣ to organise donations (money and goods)

31. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Protezione Civile Servizi SpA
Reactions & Connections
By the end of 2009 the Goverment created,
by decree, a government-owned
corporation to manage emergency.
what happened?
‣ Facebook Group to ask questions and
share doubt (1630 «fan»)
‣ Blog to discuss
what came out?
‣ new linksconnections between people with the same approach
‣ the idea of organizing a non-virtual meeting

32. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Civil Protection & Web 2.0
3 Projects Tests Experiences
Abruzzo Emergency - Earthquake, Roio Piano

33. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Map: Projects and experimentations
external communications (public)
Campo "ROIO PIANO"
www.ispro.it
everyday emergency
http://distrettobassapadovana.ning.com/
http://oss.formez.it/moodle/course/view.php?id=70
internal communications

34. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Project: Civil Protection for Mayors
Training & Study Centre
Italian Institute providing support and training to Public Administrations
Mayors
online
community
Library
e-learning glossary
Information
Forums
Channel News
Chats
Knowledge
....
2002 2005
Project - Civil Protection Web Site Project - Civil Protection for Mayors

35. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Civil Protection for Mayors
Training & Study Center
Italian Institute providing support and training to Public Administrations
www.formez.it www.protezionecivile.formez.it
 e-learning modules
Civil Civil
Institute
website
Protection
Information
Protection
For
 news
Channel Mayors
 general and law library
 regional pages
 forum
 glossaries
 best practices
 chats with experts

36. Building Civil Protection 2.0
ispro.it - 2007/2008
Research and Studies Institute for Civil
Protection and Civil Defence
Mission set up a web open and
collaborative network to support
services collaboration
the civil protection community at
all levels
Lever the Systemic Approach of the
the Italian Civil Protection information knowledge
committed and active
volunteers community

37. Building Civil Protection 2.0
ispro.it 2007

38. Building Civil Protection 2.0
ispro.it 2007

39. Building Civil Protection 2.0
ispro.it 2007

40. Building Civil Protection 2.0
ispro.it 2007

41. Building Civil Protection 2.0
ispro.it 2007

42. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Abruzzo Emergency 2009 - Test
Web 2.0 to manage information during
the emergency
Framework emergency has been managed by civil protection operators - mostly
volunteers - working in the field (rescue camps, operational centers,...)
usually on weekly shifts. Internet, phone, mobile connections were active
soon after the earthquake, mostly everywhere.
Problem Information handover - Local server failures - Fax, radio, phone did not
ensure the need of information sharing
Solution Free web based tools in order to
‣ store and categorise all the crucial information
‣ allow the creation of a network between all the operators - in the
emergency territory and at home - so to exchange information and
knowledge at distance

43. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Abruzzo Emergency 2009 - Test
COM 4 is one of the 7 operational centres - 23 rescue camps
Head quarter in Pianola (LʼAquila)
Entrusted to Civil Protection Bodies of Veneto Region
Test supported by Province of Padova carried out in Function 1 - assessment of the buildings damaged -

44. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Abruzzo Emergency 2009 - Test
COM 4 is one of the 7 operational centres - 23 rescue camps
Head quarter in Pianola (LʼAquila)
Entrusted to Civil Protection Bodies of Veneto Region
Test supported by Province of Padova carried out in Function 1 - assessment of the buildings damaged -
Actors
• COM (Operational
Centres)
• Rescue Camps
• DICOMAC (Command &
Control Direction)
• Population
• Fire Brigades, Forest
Corps, Military Forces,
Police (F5)
• Relations with Population
(F10)
• Municipalities
• Administrative bodies
• Health (F2)

45. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Abruzzo Emergency 2009 - Test
COM 4 is one of the 7 operational centres - 23 rescue camps
Head quarter in Pianola (LʼAquila)
Entrusted to Civil Protection Bodies of Veneto Region
Test supported by Province of Padova carried out in Function 1 - assessment of the buildings damaged -
Actors Tasks
• COM (Operational • exchange documentsinformations
Centres)
• Rescue Camps • informations to the public
• DICOMAC (Command & • population data and requests
Control Direction)
• procedures
• Population
• Fire Brigades, Forest • sharing informationnews
Corps, Military Forces, • requests/results/data related to
Police (F5) the assessment of the damage
• Relations with Population and safeness of buildings
(F10) • geolocation of the buildings to be
• Municipalities assessed
• Administrative bodies • information handover
• Health (F2) • professionals team management

46. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Abruzzo Emergency 2009 - Test
COM 4 is one of the 7 operational centres - 23 rescue camps
Head quarter in Pianola (LʼAquila)
Entrusted to Civil Protection Bodies of Veneto Region
Test supported by Province of Padova carried out in Function 1 - assessment of the buildings damaged -
Actors Tasks Google Tools gmail calendar gmaps
• COM (Operational • exchange documentsinformations gtalk gdocs
Centres)
• Rescue Camps • informations to the public
• DICOMAC (Command & • population data and requests
Control Direction)
• procedures
• Population
• Fire Brigades, Forest • sharing informationnews
Corps, Military Forces, • requests/results/data related to
Police (F5) the assessment of the damage
• Relations with Population and safeness of buildings
(F10) • geolocation of the buildings to be
• Municipalities assessed
• Administrative bodies • information handover
• Health (F2) • professionals team management

47. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Abruzzo Emergency 2009 - Test
COM 4 is one of the 7 operational centres - 23 rescue camps
Head quarter in Pianola (LʼAquila)
Entrusted to Civil Protection Bodies of Veneto Region
Test supported by Province of Padova carried out in Function 1 - assessment of the buildings damaged -
Actors Tasks Google Tools gmail calendar gmaps
• COM (Operational • exchange documentsinformations gtalk gdocs
Centres)
• Rescue Camps • informations to the public
Instedd - Riff [instedd.org]
• DICOMAC (Command & • population data and requests
Control Direction) • collaborative workspace
• procedures
• Population • subscribe to data sources to monitor
• Fire Brigades, Forest • sharing informationnews
• interact securely with the team
Corps, Military Forces, • requests/results/data related to • items with tags, comments, ratings, links,
Police (F5) the assessment of the damage
and safeness of buildings locations, files, alerts, and other social metadata
• Relations with Population
(F10) • geolocation of the buildings to be • autonomous agents perform data fusion, feature
• Municipalities assessed extraction, classification, tagging, geo-coding;
• Administrative bodies • information handover integrated hypothesis formation, machine
• Health (F2) • professionals team management learning

48. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Abruzzo Emergency 2009 - Test
COM 4 is one of the 7 operational centres - 23 rescue camps
Head quarter in Pianola (LʼAquila)
Entrusted to Civil Protection Bodies of Veneto Region
Test supported by Province of Padova carried out in Function 1 - assessment of the buildings damaged -
Actors Tasks Google Tools gmail calendar gmaps
• COM (Operational • exchange documentsinformations gtalk gdocs
Centres)
• Rescue Camps • informations to the public
Instedd - Riff [instedd.org]
• DICOMAC (Command & • population data and requests
Control Direction) • collaborative workspace
• procedures
• Population • subscribe to data sources to monitor
• Fire Brigades, Forest • sharing informationnews
• interact securely with the team
Corps, Military Forces, • requests/results/data related to • items with tags, comments, ratings, links,
Police (F5) the assessment of the damage
and safeness of buildings locations, files, alerts, and other social metadata
• Relations with Population
(F10) • geolocation of the buildings to be • autonomous agents perform data fusion, feature
• Municipalities assessed extraction, classification, tagging, geo-coding;
• Administrative bodies • information handover integrated hypothesis formation, machine
• Health (F2) • professionals team management learning

49. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Abruzzo Emergency - Test
Instedd - Riff platform

50. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Abruzzo Emergency - Test
Instedd - GEOCHAT platform
Send Location
‣ Developed by Emidio Picariello & Elena Rapisardi
(Italy)
‣ Ongoing joint test: Italian team and Instedd
(Tanzania)

51. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Ushaidi Crowdsource - Test

52. Building Civil Protection 2.0
4 Lessons Learned
Abruzzo Emergency - Rescue Camp Roio Piano

53. Building Civil Protection 2.0
SWOT: Web 2.0 and Risks
Strength Weakness
Opportunities
Threads

54. Building Civil Protection 2.0
SWOT: Web 2.0 and Risks
Strength Weakness
Italian Civil Protection
Opportunities
systemic approach
Networking
Volunteers Commitment
Web 2.0 Community
Threads

55. Building Civil Protection 2.0
SWOT: Web 2.0 and Risks
Strength Weakness
Italian Civil Protection
«Web Divide»
Opportunities
systemic approach
Common Approach
Networking
Volunteers Commitment Low Budget
Free web 2.0 platforms
Web 2.0 Community
Threads

56. Building Civil Protection 2.0
SWOT: Web 2.0 and Risks
Strength Weakness
Italian Civil Protection
«Web Divide»
Opportunities
systemic approach
Common Approach
Networking
Volunteers Commitment Low Budget
Free web 2.0 platforms
Web 2.0 Community
Variety of Bodies
Lack of common approaches
Threads
Participation and Collaboration
Reliable Sources

57. Building Civil Protection 2.0
SWOT: Web 2.0 and Risks
Strength Weakness
Italian Civil Protection
«Web Divide»
Opportunities
systemic approach
Common Approach
Networking
Volunteers Commitment Low Budget
Free web 2.0 platforms
Web 2.0 Community
Variety of Bodies Low Web and english litteracy
Past Dependencies
Lack of common approaches
Threads
Low Collaboration
Participation and Collaboration Slow pace of change
Reliable Sources Low Budget Lack of Continuance

58. Building Civil Protection 2.0
5 The Step Forward
Abruzzo Emergency - Earthquake, LʼAquila - Underpins

59. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Building Civil Protection 2.0
How to be ready?

60. Building Civil Protection 2.0
PeopleUsersCitizensVolunteers.....
The Challenge

61. Building Civil Protection 2.0
PeopleUsersCitizensVolunteers.....
The Challenge
«emotional» participation

62. Building Civil Protection 2.0
PeopleUsersCitizensVolunteers.....
The Challenge
«emotional» participation proactive collaboration

63. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Building a more Resilient Society
PeopleUsersCitizensOperators ...in face of disasters
People are the Key - We are the Key
Abruzzo Emergency - Roio Piano Rescue Camp

64. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Building a more Resilient Society
PeopleUsersCitizensOperators ...in face of disasters
People are the Key - We are the Key
Abruzzo Emergency - Roio Piano Rescue Camp
Collaboration

65. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Building a more Resilient Society
PeopleUsersCitizensOperators ...in face of disasters
People are the Key - We are the Key
Abruzzo Emergency - Roio Piano Rescue Camp
Resilience Collaboration

66. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Building a more Resilient Society
PeopleUsersCitizensOperators ...in face of disasters
People are the Key - We are the Key
Abruzzo Emergency - Roio Piano Rescue Camp
Subsidiarity Resilience Collaboration

67. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Building a more Resilient Society
PeopleUsersCitizensOperators ...in face of disasters
People are the Key - We are the Key
Abruzzo Emergency - Roio Piano Rescue Camp
Subsidiarity Resilience Collaboration
Volunteers

68. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Building a more Resilient Society
PeopleUsersCitizensOperators ...in face of disasters
People are the Key - We are the Key
Abruzzo Emergency - Roio Piano Rescue Camp
Subsidiarity Resilience Collaboration
Citizens
Volunteers

69. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Building a more Resilient Society
PeopleUsersCitizensOperators ...in face of disasters
People are the Key - We are the Key
Abruzzo Emergency - Roio Piano Rescue Camp
Subsidiarity Resilience Collaboration
Civil Protection Citizens
StructuresBodies Volunteers

70. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Building a more Resilient Society
PeopleUsersCitizensOperators ...in face of disasters
People are the Key - We are the Key
Abruzzo Emergency - Roio Piano Rescue Camp
Subsidiarity Resilience Collaboration
Civil Protection Citizens
StructuresBodies Volunteers
Business

71. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Building a more Resilient Society
PeopleUsersCitizensOperators ...in face of disasters
People are the Key - We are the Key
Abruzzo Emergency - Roio Piano Rescue Camp
Subsidiarity Resilience Collaboration
Civil Protection Citizens
StructuresBodies Volunteers
Business
Media

72. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Building a more Resilient Society
PeopleUsersCitizensOperators ...in face of disasters
People are the Key - We are the Key
Abruzzo Emergency - Roio Piano Rescue Camp
Subsidiarity Resilience Collaboration
Civil Protection Citizens
StructuresBodies Volunteers
Business
ExpertsScientists Media

73. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Building a more Resilient Society
PeopleUsersCitizensOperators ...in face of disasters
People are the Key - We are the Key
Abruzzo Emergency - Roio Piano Rescue Camp
Web 2.0 is the tool
Subsidiarity Resilience Collaboration
Civil Protection Citizens
StructuresBodies Volunteers
Business
ExpertsScientists Media

74. Building Civil Protection 2.0
The EU perspective
Building a more resilient society
The European Union perspective
‣ exploring the concept of resilience
‣ a comprehensive European disaster management strategy to enhance resilience.
‣ promote networking, learn about new technologies used in civil protection

75. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Involving the public and business
Are Civil Protection Bodies ready to
cope with participation?
Civil Protection debate is now focused on resilience: involving the public and business
community - to increase the responsibility for their own risk management.
In the field of Civil Protection Participation and Collaboration represent the challenge
UsersCitizensVolunteers are empowered
UsersCitizensVolunteersInstitutions have a world wide communication channel to
jointly and continuously contribute to risk prevention, preparedness, management

76. Building Civil Protection 2.0
«People» are the opportunity
Web 2.0 is an opportunity for risks
prevention and management
Abruzzo Emergency - Earthquake
A Proposal
civil protection web open network think-tank involving organisations, volunteers,
operators, diverse institutional bodies, professionals, media representative
training programmes including web and communications issues
raising awareness on RSS feed - tagging - collaborative work spaces - geolocation
tools - mobile applications...
exchange and sharing of knowledge, information, best practices, ...
local social networks focused on civil protection

77. Building Civil Protection 2.0
On-going projects
Starting from the «small»
Province of Padova ‣ evaluation test of 2 web platforms for information management
(Instedd & Ushaidi)
‣ designing the information flow charts for floodings and fires
Distretto Bassa Padovana CP ‣ Training Volunteers on Web 2.0 Platforms to manage
Volunteers Coordination Group operational rooms at local level.
Ferrara University ‣ Civil Protection Communications Course, targeting civil protection
Dept. Human Sciences operators, volunteers, media representatives
College Liberal Arts and Philosophy ‣ Focus on web 2.0 both as channel and a tool to manage
information
My Network ‣ setting up on NGO focused on information management research
and web applications for emergency and operating room.
‣ Netwoking with othe voluteers associations and local bodies

78. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Niuna impresa, per minima che sia, può avere cominciamento
o fine senza queste tre cose, cioè senza potere, e senza
sapere, e senza con amore volere.
“Breve” dell'arte dei pittori di Siena
XIV century

79. Building Civil Protection 2.0
Thanks!
Elena Rapisardi
e.rapisardi@gmail.com
e.rapisardi@googlewave.com
@erapisardi
http://it.linkedin.com/in/elenarapisardi