Abstract
This essay examines Civil Protection as one of the public functions that assumed most importance in the last 50 years as defense of Italian territory and community from social risk. Its importance depends on the fragility of our territory, especially from seismic as well as hydrogeological point of view. A 1992 statute ruled for a long time civil protection after many previous developments and received many amendments and additions. It has recently been replaced by the “Code of Civil Protection” (here: The Code) approved by legislative decree n. 1 of 2018. Such function is very complex: forecasting, prevention, risk mitigation, emergency management and overcoming are its principal components. Prevention has the maximum importance; it is a consequence of the prevision of a damaging event, and must be reciprocally coordinated with laws concerning the different matters (land use, cultural heritage and so on). The organization for carrying out civil protection function is equally complex. It is the task of a National Service, including not just State agencies, but also regional, municipal and other public and private agencies. However, civil protection is not only an institutional task, but also a social one: the Code and practice provide a role of the science, forms of self-protection by people, participation of the affected citizens in the decisions and intervention of volunteers.
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Notes
- 1.
Beck (1986).
- 2.
Inter alia Giuffrè (1987).
- 3.
- 4.
- 5.
Aversa and Crespellani (2017).
- 6.
Cardone (2011).
- 7.
Allegretti (2018a).
- 8.
The 2018 Code (art. 29) provides the Italian participation to the EERC; furthermore, authorizes the Service to emergencies and rescue activities in foreign countries all over the world in disaster events. In several occasions (as Haiti 2010) this kind of solidarity has just been experimented.
- 9.
The procedure bypassed the competence of the Ministry of Infrastructure. It may be noticed that the Prime Minister was Silvio Berlusconi and the head of Civil Protection Department was Guido Bertolaso. For a critique concerning the different stages of those chaotic events see Crespellani (2003, 2005, 2009).
- 10.
Crespellani (2014). Microzoning is the technical identification of the response of sites and soils to ground motion due to the different nature and properties of the local soils, which influence the severity of the hazard (“pericolosità locale”).
- 11.
Crespellani (2014).
- 12.
This period largely coincided with that of the government led by Silvio Berlusconi and the direction of the Civil Protection Department by Guido Bertolaso. After much criticism, the category of major events had been restricted by a presidential directive of 27 July 2010 and suppressed by law n. 27 of 24 March 2012.
- 13.
For instance, during his long term in this capacity, Prime Minister Berlusconi posed the maximum accent on this political power, using it as a means to exercise a strong primacy within public institutions and before society.
- 14.
Giuseppe Zamberletti.
- 15.
It was one of the first acts of the Berlusconi Government in 2001 (Law n. 401 of 9 November 2001).
- 16.
The Casa Italia program proposed the institution within the Prime Minister’s office of a second “Department for the promotion and safety of housing” (a duplication of departments that raised some perplexities).
- 17.
Marsan and Corazza (2018).
- 18.
Camaiani (1976).
- 19.
This project was led by the prominent scientists Giuseppe Grandori and Franco Barberi.
- 20.
See Allegretti (2017).
- 21.
- 22.
For a global survey of participation all over the world, see Allegretti (2016).
- 23.
The Prime Minister was still Silvio Berlusconi, fully supported by Guido Bertolaso, head of the Department, and Professor Calvi, founder of the Pavia centre.
- 24.
- 25.
De Marco (2013).
- 26.
Teti (2014).
- 27.
Nimis (2009).
- 28.
Bobbio (2010).
- 29.
Allegretti (2018b).
- 30.
La Repubblica, 28 and 29 August 2018. The Executive admitted guilt and published the secret clauses.
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Allegretti, U. (2021). Civil Protection: The Fight Against Earthquakes. In: Sorace, D., Ferrara, L., Piazza, I. (eds) The Changing Administrative Law of an EU Member State. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50780-0_16
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