Environmental monitoring: landslide assessment and risk management (Test site: Vernazza, Cinque Terre Natural Park)

Natural disasters, whether of meteorological origin such as cyclones, floods, tornadoes and droughts or having geological nature such as earthquakes, volcanoes and landslide, are well known for their devastating impacts on human life, economy and environment. Over recent decades, the people and the societies are becoming more vulnerable; although the frequency of natural events may be constant, human activities contribute to their increased intensity. Indeed, every year millions of people are affected by natural disasters globally and, only in the last decade, more than 80% of all disaster-related deaths were caused by natural hazards. The PhD work is part of the activities for the support and development of methodologies useful to improve the management of environmental emergencies. In particular, it focused on the analysis of environmental monitoring and disaster risk management, a systematic approach to identify, to assess and to reduce the potential risks produced by a disaster. This method (Disaster Risk Management) aims to reduce socio-economic vulnerabilities and deals with natural and man-made events. In the PhD thesis, in particular, the slope movements have been evaluated. Slope failures are generally not so costly as earthquakes or major floods, but they are more widespread, and over the years may cause more property loss than any other geological hazard. In many developing regions slope failures constitute a continuing and serious impact on the social and economic structure. Specifically, the Italian territory has always been subject to instability phenomena, because of the geological and morphological characteristic and because of "extreme" weather events that are repeated more frequently than in the past, in relation to climate change. Currently these disasters lead to the largest number of victims and damages to settlements, infrastructure and historical and cultural environmental, after the earthquakes. The urban development, especially in recent decades, resulted in an increase of the assets at risk and unstable areas, often due to constant human intervention badly designed that led to instability also places previously considered "safe". Prevention is therefore essential to minimize the damages caused by landslides The objectives of the conducted research were to investigate the different techniques and to check their potentiality, in order to evaluate the most appropriate instrument for landslide hazard assessment in terms of better compromise between time to perform the analysis and expected results. The attempt is to evaluate which are the best methodologies to use according to the scenario, taking into consideration both reachable accuracies and time constraints. Careful considerations will be performed on strengths, weaknesses and limitations inherent to each methodology. The characteristics associated with geographic, or geospatial, information technologies facilitate the integration of scientific, social and economic data, opening up interesting possibilities for monitoring, assessment and change detection activities, thus enabling better informed interventions in human and natural systems. This is an important factor for the success of emergency operations and for developing valuable natural disaster preparedness, mitigation and prevention systems. The test site was the municipality of Vernazza, which in October 2011 was subject to a extreme rainfall which led to the occurrence of a series of landslides along the Vernazzola stream, which have emphasized the flood event that affected the water cours

Environmental monitoring: landslide assessment and risk management (Test site: Vernazza, Cinque Terre Natural Park)

Natural disasters, whether of meteorological origin such as cyclones, floods, tornadoes and droughts or having geological nature such as earthquakes, volcanoes and landslide, are well known for their devastating impacts on human life, economy and environment. Over recent decades, the people and the societies are becoming more vulnerable; although the frequency of natural events may be constant, human activities contribute to their increased intensity. Indeed, every year millions of people are affected by natural disasters globally and, only in the last decade, more than 80% of all disaster-related deaths were caused by natural hazards. The PhD work is part of the activities for the support and development of methodologies useful to improve the management of environmental emergencies. In particular, it focused on the analysis of environmental monitoring and disaster risk management, a systematic approach to identify, to assess and to reduce the potential risks produced by a disaster. This method (Disaster Risk Management) aims to reduce socio-economic vulnerabilities and deals with natural and man-made events. In the PhD thesis, in particular, the slope movements have been evaluated. Slope failures are generally not so costly as earthquakes or major floods, but they are more widespread, and over the years may cause more property loss than any other geological hazard. In many developing regions slope failures constitute a continuing and serious impact on the social and economic structure. Specifically, the Italian territory has always been subject to instability phenomena, because of the geological and morphological characteristic and because of "extreme" weather events that are repeated more frequently than in the past, in relation to climate change. Currently these disasters lead to the largest number of victims and damages to settlements, infrastructure and historical and cultural environmental, after the earthquakes. The urban development, especially in recent decades, resulted in an increase of the assets at risk and unstable areas, often due to constant human intervention badly designed that led to instability also places previously considered "safe". Prevention is therefore essential to minimize the damages caused by landslides The objectives of the conducted research were to investigate the different techniques and to check their potentiality, in order to evaluate the most appropriate instrument for landslide hazard assessment in terms of better compromise between time to perform the analysis and expected results. The attempt is to evaluate which are the best methodologies to use according to the scenario, taking into consideration both reachable accuracies and time constraints. Careful considerations will be performed on strengths, weaknesses and limitations inherent to each methodology. The characteristics associated with geographic, or geospatial, information technologies facilitate the integration of scientific, social and economic data, opening up interesting possibilities for monitoring, assessment and change detection activities, thus enabling better informed interventions in human and natural systems. This is an important factor for the success of emergency operations and for developing valuable natural disaster preparedness, mitigation and prevention systems. The test site was the municipality of Vernazza, which in October 2011 was subject to a extreme rainfall which led to the occurrence of a series of landslides along the Vernazzola stream, which have emphasized the flood event that affected the water course

Training of Crisis Mappers and Map Production from Multi-sensor Data: Vernazza Case Study (Cinque Terre National Park, Italy)

This aim of paper is to presents the development of a multidisciplinary project carried out by the cooperation between Politecnico di Torino and ITHACA (Information Technology for Humanitarian Assistance, Cooperation and Action). The goal of the project was the training in geospatial data acquiring and processing for students attending Architecture and Engineering Courses, in order to start up a team of "volunteer mappers". Indeed, the project is aimed to document the environmental and built heritage subject to disaster; the purpose is to improve the capabilities of the actors involved in the activities connected in geospatial data collection, integration and sharing. The proposed area for testing the training activities is the Cinque Terre National Park, registered in the World Heritage List since 1997. The area was affected by flood on the 25th of October 2011. According to other international experiences, the group is expected to be active after emergencies in order to upgrade maps, using data acquired by typical geomatic methods and techniques such as terrestrial and aerial Lidar, close-range and aerial photogrammetry, topographic and GNSS instruments etc.; or by non conventional systems and instruments such us UAV, mobile mapping etc. The ultimate goal is to implement a WebGIS platform to share all the data collected with local authorities and the Civil Protectio

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection