Social and material vulnerability in the face of seismic hazard: an analysis of the Italian case

The assessment of the vulnerability of a community endangerd by seis-mic hazard is of paramount importance for planning a precision policyaimed at the prevention and reduction of its seismic risk. We aim at mea-suring the vulnerability of the Italian municipalities exposed to seismichazard, by analyzing the open data offered by the Mappa dei Rischi deiComuni Italiani provided by ISTAT, the Italian National Institute of Statis-tics. Encompassing the Index of Social and Material Vulnerability alreadycomputed by ISTAT, we also consider as referents of the latent social andmaterial vulnerability of a community, its demographic dynamics and theage of the building stock where the community resides. Fusing the analysesof different indicators, within the context of seismic risk we offer a tentativeranking of the Italian municipalities in terms of their social and materialvulnerability, together with differential profiles of their dominant fragilitieswhich constitute the basis for planning precision policies aimed at seismicrisk prevention and reduction.