ABSTRACTS / RESUMES - Comitato Glaciologico Italiano

of these cities, located near active plate margins and tropical
cyclone belts, such problems are magnified many times
by the recurrence of natural hazards which include earthquakes,
volcanic activities, floods, and mass movements.
Increased demand for water has required extraction from
deep aquifers leading to problems of subsidence and
quality.
We examine the range of these cities with reference to (1)
their site-related problems, (2) the nature of geomorphological
information required for specific ameliorating actions,
and (3) the level of management required for city
maintenance. Management requires interfacing of geomorphology
with engineering practices and urban planning.
We present a classification of cities ranging from those
with limited problems and possible engineering and
land-zoning solutions (Singapore) to cities where the hazards
(either natural or anthropogenic) are so acute and
widespread that a practical solution is difficult to achieve
(Kingston, Bangkok). We list the types of geomorphological
information needed for city management and hazard
amelioration, and also review the nature of organisation or
personnel currently available in the tropical cities of the
developing countries to collect and process this information
and act on it. Precise geomorphological and geological
information and long-term data sets are not available for
most of the cities. Furthermore, it is necessary to present
the information in formats appreciated by the engineering
and planning communities. Often a set of specialised maps
as used for the tropical city of Hong Kong, are extremely
useful. We complete the discussion with several examples
of and recommendations for collection of geomorphological
information and inventory preparation for communicating
geomorphological data to city engineers and planners.
FAUSTO GUZZETTI 1 , ALBERTO CARRARA2,
MAURO CARDINALI 1 & PAOLA REICHENBACH 1
Landslide hazard evaluation:
an aid to a sustainable development
1 Cnr _Irpi, via Madonna Alta 126, Perugia, Italy
2 Cnr - Csite, c.so Risorgimento 1, Bologna, Italy
In the recent years, the population growth and the expansion
of settlements and life-lines over hazardous areas have
largely increased the impact of natural disasters both in industrialised
and developing countries. Third world countries
have always been unable to face the high costs involved
in controlling natural hazards through major engineering
works and rationale land use planning. Owing to the
global recession, industrialised societies are increasingly
less eager to invest a great deal of money to reduce natural
risks by means of structural measures. Hence, the new issue
seems to be the implementation of warning systems
and land utilisation regulations aimed at minimise the loss
of lives and property without investing in long-term, costly
projects of ground stabilisation.
Government and research institutions world-wide have attempted
for years to assess landslide hazard and risk and
to portray its spatial distribution. Countless landslide maps
were produced by geomorphologists. Likewise, several
methods for assessing hazard were proposed or implemented.
The reliability of these maps and the criteria behind
these hazard evaluations are ill formalised or poorly documented.
Despite the efforts, geomorphological information
remains largely descriptive and subjective. It is hence somewhat
unsuitable to engineers, policy makers or developers
when planning land resources and mitigating the effects
of geological hazards.
In the Umbria and Marche Regions of Central Italy, attempts
at testing the proficiency and limitations of multivariate
statistical techiniques and of different methodologies
for dividing the terrirory into suitable areas for landslide
hazard assessment have been completed, or are in progress,
at various scales. These experiments showed that,
despite the operational and conceptual limitations, landslide
hazard assessment may indeed constitute a suitable, cost-effective
aid to land-use planning. Within this framework,
engineering geomorphology may play a renewed
role in assessing areas at high landslide hazard, and helping
mitigating the associated risk.
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