ABS

This paper analyses the activities of an Integrated Information System supporting Civil Defence in case of seismic events, designed by the Italian National Seismic Survey and currently under development: SIGE. The main aim of such a system is to produce real-time tabular reports and operational maps, along with the definition of scenarios, to be used under emergency condition. The paper analyses the activities of SIGE (main report, scenarios, damage survey, activities, etc.) during the last Italian earthquake occurred in central Italy on September 26-27, 1997.

Introduction
 Aim of such article is to describe activities carried out by Seismic Survey Information System (runned by Informative & Information Office) on the occasion of the earthquake occurred on September 26-27, 1997 that has recently hit the Umbro-Marchigiano Appennine. Also it point out the considerable advantages of using a GIS (Geographical Information System) in information managements.
Briefly we can state that the Survey, in quality of Civil Defence body (law 225/92) has to provide (within its authority) the required activities for the aftermath of the seismic event and the following management of the post-event.
As to first point (just after the "event") the Survey gives an informative report called SIGE (fig. 1): Such a report gives an homogeneous information contents allowing to value the global square of seismic phenomenon as to its entity, land extension and social and house contest involved.
 

After 45 minutes from the signalling of the event the report (paper report) is transmitted from Seismic Survey employees to Civil Defence Department. In this way it is possible to overcome knowledge black-out occurring immediately after "post-event".
Report contents cover the following areas: demography, building, services, networks, historical seismology, damage scenarios (property and people).
The whole report (index in tab.1) is available care of the Internet site of the Dipartimento per i Servizi Tecnici Nazionali at the following address: http://www.dstn.pcm.it/ssn/index.html.
 

During the emergency phase the informative system has to support the activity concerning the organisation of information coming from technicians teams operating in areas involved by earthquake. Moreover it prepares in useful times cartographic synthetic printout required both for operational meetings care of central D.P.C. (Civil Defence Department) and for local operational branches care of C.O.M. (Joint Operational Centres).
The C.O.M., (Operational Centres created immediately after the event in the areas hit by earthquake) represent the information source where SSN (National Seismic Survey) and GNDT (Earthquake National Defence Group) technicians worked jointly as co-ordinators on investigation (survey) carried out by operational teams. The stated procedure foresee that data acquisition, inspection and computerisation (whether total or partial) be executed in C.O.M. branch office. The same staff daily sent files to the central branch (Seismic Survey) via e-mail (see fig.2). Such information concerned: the mapping on fitness for habitations (in particular public buildings - schools - hospitals - cult buildings - art worth buildings and a portion of private building because mostly assessed by municipal and regional bodies), the teams working progress and lastly the location of available resources (equipped fields, heliports, etc.).
At the Seismic Survey printout and cartographic data were re-tested, organised and sent back.
During the high emergency phase, such operation extended on behalf of simplified informative structures.
During the first post event weeks technical teams were daily operative from 10 to 15 to check the damages on public buildings (teams used for this task some pre-fitted modules).

 
The mapping activities have extended for many weeks and for any seismic reply it has been necessary to re-test the already assessed buildings.
The mapping operation has been extremely important because of the large amount of existing "Cultural Goods" in the area, (i.e. in the municipality of Gubbio 127 churches required to be tested). This situation needed a strict co-operation between technical operative teams (for the evaluation of fitness habitation) and the local Monuments and Fine Arts Office technicians (for existing monuments damage evaluation).
Step by step database were daily producing reports on activities under operation.
The same link network (built four days later) has not been used for all information. For example of macroseismic analysis (to be carried out right after the event) is the one that has required a non-automatic (manual) procedure by an human transport directly from damaged area to Survey Offices.
Same cartographical printouts are explained here. Figures have obtained from sights realized through Arcview 3.0. software.
The SIGE system use :

• Hardware: HP/9000/755 two workstations Unix;
• Software: Arc Info and Oracle.

• It is referred to the whole national territory;
• It is relative to the administrative municipality areas;
• Surveying and processing is homogeneous;
• It have an official character.

• the more damaged areas: damages to property have generally checked (verified) starting from a MCS 5-6 degree;
• earthquake impact on landing (people feeling after earthquake). For all assessed localities where impact has been greater or equal to 4 degree MCS scale a detailed map-making has been done (see fig. 3);
• the possible presence of local effects producing amplification;

• Identification of the correct denomination of investigated area;
• Registered localities not present in the ISTAT official code.

Mapping on fitness for habitation
By order of Civil Defence, the second step was the mapping on fitness of public buildings. This task involved also the Seismic Survey on its complexity (i.e. organisation of technicians teams, data processing).
As previously said, damages checking on private buildings have been carried out by local technical bodies. Such activity was undergone exclusively at the three C.O.M. centres of Foligno, Muggia and Fabriano in which the staff of the Seismic Survey and GNDT was directly involved.
By mapping on fitness, damage description is given at a very high detail level; data are gathered and transferred on cadastral maps.
The fitness was declared for each Municipality as to both public and private building.
In this case GIS instrument has been used to return two informative levels: the control of technical teams effectiveness (as to planning and verification of census operations) and the summary representation of damage checking (single building).
Drafting of summary maps for EMERCOM meetings (c/o Civil Defence Department) represents the survey final result. In these maps, for each Municipality, were represented both dynamical data such as the number of assessed public buildings, the number of uninhabitable public buildings, the number of assessed private buildings, the number of uninhabitable private buildings, and static data such as the resident population, the total number of buildings, the percentage of buildings built before classification (fig. 4). Dynamic indicators were daily updated.

Legend
Dinamic data: 1(number of assessed public buildings), 2 (number of uninhabitable public buildings), 7 (number of assessed private buildings), 8 (number of uninhabitable private buildings).
Static data: 4 (resident population), 5 (total number of buildings), 6 (percentage of buildings built before seismic classification). 3 (Municipality)
 

Fig.4 Map show the dinamic and static data (complete and particular view).
 

Monitoring Networks
Having a complete picture of the seismic and quickening monitoring stations in the area has proved to be important. In that way a map with the location of the available instrumentation has been drawn, reporting both steady and mobile networks set up just after the event. For each network the managing body has been reported too. It has to be noticed that in the area were operating many research bodies: the ING (National Geophysic Institute) and the IRRS (Seismic Risk Institute) as well as the Seismic Survey arranged both the distribution of those stations and the supplement of several networks in an area of particular interest (Fig. 5).

 
Historical and Artistic Legacy
A map was drawn with the location of the historic centres (on a substantial scale) assessed by the Ministry of Cultural Goods, for the district of Rieti (fig. 6).

Conclusions
The event that has struck the Umbro-Marchigiano Appennine has underlined how an informative structure using GIS as an operative instrument may be employed to support Civil Defence and help to analyse the results coming from damaged areas.
Such operation has allowed to point out both the positivity of the approach and the limit between theoretical employment and operativity whenever the works are under pressure due to the emergency. It is obvious therefore that the operative instruments have to be set up and tested in peaceful time.
Field experience has shown how new instruments have to be arranged: more reliable communication systems, GPS, remote sensing as an informative aid etc.
Those technologies will be subject to new studies and the resulting instruments will be integrated in the new version of SIGE Project: SIGE on Line.
 
 

Author Information
dr. Pierluigi Soddu & dr.ssa Maria Giovanna Martini