Early Warning Systems in Italy: State-of-the-Art and Future Trends

Landslide risk in Italy is one of the highest worldwide. The strategy to face this problem largely relies on early warning systems. A national early warning system based on weather forecast is regulated by a national law, although each of the twenty regions composing Italy has a high degree of autonomy. For example, in Emilia-Romagna Region, rainfall data are statistically analysed and multiple values of standard deviation are used to define warning thresholds. On the other hand, a correct risk communication toward the population using appropriate means and content is necessary to make the warnings effective. Recently, a new possibility for regional scale, displacement-based early warning systems came to existence and is here presented.