Prof. David AlexanderCESPRO - University of Florence

Security and Welfare:the View from L'Aquila, Italy

Disaster riskreduction

Incidentmanagement

Population(community)protection

Plans,procedures,protocols

Humanand materialresources

Hazardforecasting,monitoring,

etc.

Analysis

• registered• archived• forgotten• ignored

Vulnerabilitymaintained.-

• utilised• adopted• learned

Disasterriskreduced

+

LessonsPast

events

The process ofdisaster riskreduction(DRR)

What is welfare?

The provision ofcare to a minimumacceptable standardto people who areunable adequately to look afterthemselves.

But we also needto focus on what welfare is NOT...

• magnitude 6.3, duration 25 seconds

• acceleration on hard rock 0.3g,on soft sediments 0.7-1.0g

• part of an earthquake swarmthat has lasted many months

• the first earthquake withepicentre very near a majorurban centre in Italy since 1915.

The L'Aquila earthquake of 6 April 2009

• 308 deaths

• 1,500 injuries: 202 serious,550 moderate, 750 light

• 67,000 homeless survivors

• 100,000 buildings seriously damaged

• 16 towns devastated, 33 damaged.

Impact of the L'Aquila earthquake

• c.21,000 people in tents for summermonths, April-September 2009

• c. 22,000 people in hotels,some far away from L'Aquila

• rapid construction of transitionalaccommodation for 65% of survivors.

Government policy on shelter

• 4,600 apartments in 184buildings on 19 sites

• €280,607 per apartment (€3,875per square meter of living space).

C.A.S.E. - Complessi AntisismiciSostenibili ed Ecocompatibili

• €1,427 per base isolator @40 per bldg.

C.A.S.E. at Assergi - built onan unstabilised asbestos dump.

Lack of wastewater treatment facilities.

• standard prefabs without base isolation

• 54 sites, half of them in L'Aquila city

• 8,500 people accommodated.

M.A.P. - Moduli abitativi provvisori

• social fragmentation leads todepression, isolation and marginalisation

• total lack of services and transportation

• induced dependence on private transportwithout infrastructure improvement

• exclusion of single person 'families'.

Problems with CASE and MAP sites

• stagnation of reconstructionthrough lack of funds and planning

• political paralysis andintimidation by central government

• massive rise in unemployment

• local inflation, especially of house rents

• loss of basic services.

Problems with L'Aquila recovery policy

Conclusions

The L'Aquila recovery process is driven byshort-term political expediency, leading

to the repetition of ancient policy errors,particularly lack of democratic governance

Organisation Resources

Self-organisation

Imposedorganisation

Volunteerism

Community disaster planning

Laws, protocols, directives

Standards, norms, guidelines

Communityresources

Governmentalresources

Donations

International resources

Earth-quake

Politicalresponse

National

Regional

Local

Permanentreconstruction

Bad(functionalproblems)

Good(functionalitymaintained)

Elections

Public imageof politicians

Amelioration

Political impact on reconstruction

Suff-ering

Reco-very Transitional

housing and settlement

2009->: Neoliberalism or moreassistentialism? Vote garnering

versus economic stringency.

1908: Liberalism - the state isnot a big source of disaster relief

1980: Assistentialism - the stateis a major source of largesse.

Without participatory governance,disasters can open a Pandora's box

of irrational, debatable, deleterious,noxious and arbitrary consequences.

Public participation indecision making

Governmentpaternalism

Inclusiveoutcomes

Socialexclusion

Discontent

Satisfaction

Discontent

...or...

d.alexander@alice.itemergency-planning.blogspot.comwww.slideshare.com/dealexander

Thank youfor yourattention!