Individual and societal risk owing to landslides in the Campania region (southern Italy)

• Published in: Georisk Vol. 2; no. 3; pp. 125 - 140
• Main Authors: Cascini, L., Ferlisi, S., Vitolo, E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 01-09-2008
• Subjects: F-N curves; individual risk; landslides; societal risk
• ISSN: 1749-9518; 1749-9526
• DOI: 10.1080/17499510802291310

This paper deals with the estimation of both individual and societal risks owing to landslides in the Campania region (southern Italy) thanks to the availability of an extensive catalogue of historical incident data spanning from the 5
th
century up to now. Individual risk is estimated by computing the landslide mortality rate. Societal risk is measured by plotting the annual frequency F of events causing N or more fatalities against the number N of fatalities (i.e. an F-N curve). The results obtained show that in Campania both individual and societal risks owing to landslides are very high when compared to similar risks of the Italian territory. Moreover, the analysis of the incident data clearly highlights the most prone areas to catastrophic events, essentially related to the occurrence of flow-like fast-moving phenomena, where the societal risk is proved to be one of the highest in Europe.