| The effectiveness of alert systems for civil protection purposes, defined as
the ability to minimize the level of risk in a region subjected to an
imminent flood event, strongly depends on availability and exploitability of
information. It also depends on technical expertise and the ability to
easily manage the civil protection actions through the organization into
standardized procedures.
Hydro-geologic and hydraulic risk estimation, based on the combination of
different technical issues (in this case meteorological, hydro-geological,
hydraulic matters), but also socio-economic ones, requires the integration
between quasi-static and time-varying information within the same operative
platform. Beside the real-time data exchange, a Decision Support System must
provide tools which enable knowledge sharing among the civil protection
centres. Moreover, due to the amount and heterogeneity of information,
quality procedures become necessary to handle all forecasting and monitoring
routines within operative centres, according to the latest national
directive.
In Italy procedures on the civil protection matter have been condensed into
the Prime Minister's Directive
(27 February 2004.
STORM3, an innovative management and monitoring System for real-time
flood forecasting and warning, takes in the Directive, supporting the
operator step by step within the different phases of civil protection
activities. |