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In recent years, awareness of a need for more effective disaster data collection, storage, and sharing of analyses has developed in many parts of the world. In line with this advance, Italian local authorities have expressed the need for enhanced methods and procedures for post-event damage assessment in order to obtain data that can serve numerous purposes: to create a reliable and consistent database on the basis of which damage models can be defined or validated; and to supply a comprehensive scenario of flooding impacts according to which priorities can be identified during the emergency and recovery phase, and the compensation due to citizens from insurers or local authorities can be established. This paper studies this context, and describes ongoing activities in the Umbria and Sicily regions of Italy intended to identifying new tools and procedures for flood damage data surveys and storage in the aftermath of floods. In the first part of the paper, the current procedures for data gathering in Italy are analysed. The analysis shows that the available knowledge does not enable the definition or validation of damage curves, as information is poor, fragmented, and inconsistent. A new procedure for data collection and storage is therefore proposed. The entire analysis was carried out at a local level for the residential and commercial sectors only. The objective of the next steps for the research in the short term will be (i) to extend the procedure to other types of damage, and (ii) to make the procedure operational with the Italian Civil Protection system. The long-term aim is to develop specific depth-damage curves for Italian contexts.

This essay examines basic functions of crisis decision‐making—cognition, communication, coordination, and control—in response to COVID‐19. This crisis decision‐making framework is applied to cases from South Korea, Italy, and the United States as public officials grapple with how to recognize, respond, and recover from this deadly, invisible threat. The authors acknowledge the harsh trade‐off between the compelling need to limit transmission of the virus to protect public health and the consequent economic losses of halting social interaction. They draw implications from this crisis for better decision‐making and investment in a global information infrastructure system to manage large‐scale, multidisciplinary threats to the health, economy, and sustainability of the world's community of nations. The essay concludes that collective cognition, amplified by timely, valid communication and supported by sound planning, trained personnel, appropriate technology, and bold leadership, enables coordinated action needed to bring a large‐scale global crisis under control. Evidence for Practice Invest in information technology to manage systematic data collection, analysis, and modeling. Provide timely, informed updates on community status to constituents. Maintain a knowledge base of resources, vulnerabilities, and plans.

Abstract. The European "Floods Directive" 2007/60/EU has produced an important shift from a traditional approach to flood risk management centred only on hazard analysis and forecast to a newer one which encompasses other aspects relevant to decision-making and which reflect recent research advances in both hydraulic engineering and social studies on disaster risk. This paper accordingly proposes a way of modelling the benefits of flood emergency management interventions calculating the possible damages by taking into account exposure, vulnerability, and expected damage reduction. The results of this model can be used to inform decisions and choices for the implementation of flood emergency management measures. A central role is played by expected damages, which are the direct and indirect consequence of the occurrence of floods in exposed and vulnerable urban systems. How damages should be defined and measured is a key question that this paper tries to address. The Floods Directive suggests that mitigation measures taken to reduce flood impact need to be evaluated also by means of a cost–benefit analysis. The paper presents a methodology for assessing the effectiveness of early warning for flash floods, considering its potential impact in reducing direct physical damage, and it assesses the general benefit in regard to other types of damages and losses compared with the emergency management costs. The methodology is applied to the case study area of the city of Sondrio in the northern Alpine region of Italy. A critical discussion follows the application. Its purpose is to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of available models for quantifying direct physical damage and of the general model proposed, given the current state of the art in damage and loss assessment.

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