The Vulnerability of People to Damaging Hydrogeological Events in the Calabria Region (Southern Italy)

Abstract

Background: Damaging Hydrogeological Events (DHEs) are severe weather periods during which floods, landslides, lightning, windstorms, hail or storm surges can harm people. Climate change is expected to increase the frequency/intensity of DHEs and, consequently, the potential harm to people. Method: We investigated the impacts of DHEs on people in Calabria (Italy) over 37 years (1980–2016). Data on 7288 people physically affected by DHEs were gathered from the systematic analysis of regional newspapers and collected in the database named PEOPLE. The damage was codified in three severity levels as follows: fatalities (people who were killed), injured (people who suffered physical harm) and involved (people who were present at the place where an accident occurred but survived and were not harmed). During the study period, we recorded 68 fatalities, 566 injured and 6654 people involved in the events. Results: Males were more frequently killed, injured and involved than females, and females who suffered fatalities were older than males who suffered fatalities, perhaps indicating that younger females tended to be more cautious than same-aged males, while older females showed an intrinsic greater vulnerability. Involved people were younger than injured people and fatalities, suggesting that younger people show greater promptness in reacting to dangerous situations. Floods caused the majority of the fatalities, injured and involved people, followed by landslides. Lightning was the most dangerous phenomenon, and it affected a relatively low number of people, killing 11.63% of them and causing injuries to 37.2%. Fatalities and injuries mainly occurred outdoors, largely along roads. In contrast, people indoors, essentially in public or private buildings, were more frequently involved without suffering harm. Being “dragged by water/mud” and “surrounded by water/mud”, respectively, represented the two extremes of dynamic dangerousness. The dragging effect of rapid-flowing water totally or partially obstructed the attempts of people to save their lives. In contrast, people surrounded by steady water/mud encountered difficulties but ultimately could survive. Conclusions: The study outcomes can be used in informational campaigns to increase risk awareness among both administrators and citizens and to improve community resilience, particularly in promoting self-protective behaviors and avoiding the underestimation of hazardous situations.

A millennium-long reconstruction of damaging hydrological events across Italy

“…Reconstructions from such documentary archives of past precipitation extremes are important for the understanding of the variability and changes of floods and landslides, but also to gain better insights into their impacts on ecosystem functioning and societal impacts 15 . Natural climate variability induces considerable inter-decadal fluctuations in stormy events 16 , including so-called damaging hydrological events (DHE) 17 , not least in the coastal and mountainous areas of the Mediterranean region. Studies of past climate in Europe 9,18–24 have documented a long history of warmer and colder climate as well as wetter and drier periods, alternating repeatedly and often abruptly, with a profound influence on shaping multiple damaging hydrological events 25–29 .…”

EUFF (EUropean Flood Fatalities): A European flood fatalities database since 1980

“…At European level, there are no "official" databases collecting FFs data for Member States. A first experiment, carried out in the Mediterranean environment by a multinational research group, was MEFF (MEditerranean Flood Fatalities) database, which included FFs occurred upon a 36-year period in five Mediterranean study areas (Aceto et al, 2017;Petrucci et al, 2019b;Vinet et al, 2019). Having MEFF as a starting 450 point, we subsequently created EUFF 2019 by extending both the study area and the period, which was an added-value element in both spatial and temporal scales.…”

“…*South France includes Languedoc-Roussillon (now part of Occitan region), the Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region and the departments of Drôme and Ardèche (From Vinet et al, 2019, modified). Petrucci and Pasqua, 2012;Aceto et al, 2017;Petrucci et al, 2017;Salvati et al, 2018 https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2020-154…”

Victims crossing overflowing watercourses with vehicles in Spain

“…Dozens of drivers around the world are swept away in their vehicles every year when attempting to cross overflowing rivers or flooded areas, and many of them die drowned (Ashley & Ashley, 2008; Diakakis & Deligiannakis, 2013; Drobot, Benight, & Gruntfest, 2007; FitzGerald, Du, Jamal, Clark, & Hou, 2010; Hamilton, Peden, Pearson, & Hagger, 2016; Jonkman & Kelman, 2005; Petrucci et al, 2018, 2019; Ruin, Gaillard, & Lutoff, 2007; Salvati et al, 2018; Staes, Orengo, Malilay, Rullan, & Noji, 1994; Yale, Cole, Garrison, Runyan, & RiadRuback, 2003). Human behaviour contributes greatly to fatalities during floods: accidents crossing overflowing rivers are mainly due to overconfidence and underestimation of risk (Ashley & Ashley, 2008; Diakakis & Deligiannakis, 2013; Horswill, Waylen, & Tofield, 2002; Ruin et al, 2007; Siegrist, Gutscher, & Earle, 2005; Terpstra, 2011); vehicle submersion is often a consequence of deliberately driving into flooded roadways (Yale et al, 2003).…”