Geographical and multi-criteria approach for hydro-geological risk evaluation in decision making processes

Abstract

The catastrophes occurring in recent years and a changed awareness not only among "experts" but in the whole society of the reasons for hydro-geological calamities are in fact pointing out the urgency of a correct policy for the prevention of hydro-geological risk and the development of more adequate systems for forecasting disasters. In the light of a problem of this entity, it is necessary to act on two fronts: careful planning and programming of the use of territorial resources, as well as setting up decision making support systems that can improve the efficiency of the actions taken. In this paper the topic of planning in areas with hydro - geological risk is deal with, through the implementation of two different methodologies: the former is a probabilistic - quantitative one for the definition of the hydraulic dangerousness; the latter is a qualitative one (able to consider also social, economic, cultural and political aspects) for the definition of vulnerability considered as the ability of a territorial system to answer to the calamitous events. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010.