The objective of this field exercise, which also included cultural heritage scenarios, was testing the national intervention model for seismic risk with the activation of Coordination Centres, the setting up of reception areas for the population and of working areas for urgent technical and medical rescue activities, and the deployment of Mobile Columns and post-seismic assessment activities
From 4 to 6 November 2022, the Italian Civil Protection Department-DPC organised the national exercise “Sisma dello Stretto 2022” together with the regions of Calabria and Sicily. The exercise involved 56 municipalities of which 37 in Calabria and 19 in Sicily and saw the deployment in the field of approximately 3,500 operators, technicians and officials of the operational structures, territorial Institutions, technical-scientific Competence Centres and over 3,000 volunteers from national and local organisations. The components of the National Civil Protection Service were called to manage the aftermaths of an earthquake of magnitude 6 followed by a tsunami alert in the Strait of Messina, and were involved in the activities of assistance to the population, technical rescue, management of essential services and safeguarding cultural heritage.
The exercise activities included three cultural heritage scenarios set up at the Cathedral and at the National Archaeological Museum in Reggio Calabria (Calabria), and at the Fort San Salvatore in the city of Messina (Sicily), with the activation of the “Cultural Heritage Cell”, the specialised unit in Italy that brings together the actors involved in safeguarding cultural heritage in the national coordination structure in the event of an emergency, i.e., the DI.COMA.C – Command and Control Center (in Italian “Direzione di Comando e Controllo”).
During this three-day exercise, the Cultural Heritage Cell at DI.COMA.C facilitated the coordination of the activities carried out by the mixed teams composed of technicians from the Italian Ministry of Culture - MiC (architects, restorers, archaeologists, art historians and archivists) who collaborated with experts from the national and regional DPC, the Provincial Fire Brigades and Carabinieri Command-Cultural Heritage Protection Units, the Municipality of Reggio Calabria, representatives of the Calabrian Episcopal Conference, structural engineers from the Lombardy Region, the Regional Mobile Columns and with representatives of regional associations of specialised and non-specialised volunteers. The activities carried out in the cultural heritage scenarios were aimed at verifying the effectiveness of the coordination of damage assessments and securing of cultural assets, the interoperability between MiC officials and regional volunteer associations specialised in cultural heritage safeguard, and at testing the operational capabilities as well as the correct application of procedures for cultural goods removal and securing by volunteers trained for this purpose.
The National Coordination Unit of the Ministry of Culture (UCCN-MiC), through the activation of the Regional Units of Calabria and Sicily (UCCR-MiC), ensured the coordination on the territory with the other components and operational structures of the National Civil Protection System represented in DI.COMA.C, all under the general coordination of the DPC. Indeed, according to the MiC Directive of 23 April 2015 on the “Procedures for the Management of Activities for the Safeguarding and Protection of Cultural Heritage in the Event of Emergencies Deriving from Natural Hazards”, the UCCN-MiC coordinates the response activities of the UCCR-MiC and supports the Secretary General of the MiC in ensuring the necessary coordination with the national institutions external to the Ministry, particularly with the other components and operational structures of the National Civil Protection Service. Since 2020, the Directive has been partially updated following the establishment of the General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Safeguarding, whose Director has assumed the role of coordinator of the UCCN. The UCCR-MiC comprises three operational units (Unit for the Cultural Heritage Damage Survey, Unit for Technical Coordination of Safety Measures, Unit for Temporary Storage and Emergency Intervention Laboratory on Movable Property).
The mixed teams were engaged in damage assessment interventions and securing of movable cultural heritage including their packaging and transport to the previously identified warehouses. Specialised experts were asked to fill in the templates that serve to collect data and first-level information useful for defining the first urgent actions aimed at safeguarding cultural heritage. The data included in the completed forms, handed in to the Cultural Heritage Cell at the end of the activity, will update the information systems managed by the Ministry of Culture with the list of all recovered assets, the indication of their provenance and the location of the temporary storage identified for their recovery.
This field exercise was also an opportunity to test the IT-alert public alert system, which sent an information message on the ongoing exercise concerning the tsunami alert to the mobile phones of the more than 500,000 people citizens living in the 22 coastal municipalities of the two regions concerned.
Finally, the exercise included a part dedicated to risk awareness raising among the population; three Calabrian municipalities hosted “Io Non Rischio” (I Don't Take Risks), the DPC’s communication campaign on seismic and tsunami risks. In addition, on the seafront of Reggio Calabria it was set up Terremoti d’Italia (Earthquakes of Italy), an exhibition route created by the Civil Protection Department, which allows visitors to understand, in several stages, what an earthquake is and what can be done to reduce its risks, up to being able to observe and perceive its effects directly, thanks to experience on seismic simulators designed to reproduce seismic movement.
During the debriefing held at DI.COMA.C in Reggio Calabria, Fabrizio Curcio, Head of DPC, after thanking the forces in the field, recalled that “Among the components of the National Civil Protection Service, [...] are the local authorities and institutions, without which even the best emergency response system would be totally ineffective, and it would be impossible to successfully address the great challenge we are facing, that of making communities increasingly resilient”.
