What’s the seismic risk perception in Italy?

Abstract

Risk perception is a fundamental element in the definition and the adoption of preventive counter-measures. In order to develop effective information and risk communication strategies, the perception of risks and the influencing factors should be known. This paper presents preliminary results of a survey on seismic risk perception in Italy. The research design combines a psychometric and a cul-tural theoretic approach. More than 5,000 on-line tests have been compiled from January 23rd till July 25th, 2013. The data collected show that in Italy seismic risk perception is strongly underestimated; 86 on 100 Italian citizens, living in the most dangerous zone (namely Zone 1), do not have a correct perception of seismic hazard. From these observations we deem that extremely urgent measures are re-quired in Italy to reach an effective way to communicate seismic risk.