Overview
- Location
- Italy
- Website
Description
The Department of Civil Protection is a structure of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. It was founded on April 29, 1982 to provide the country with a body capable of mobilizing and coordinating all the national resources useful to ensure assistance to the population in the event of a serious emergency.
The dramatic delay in relief and the lack of coordination that had characterized the management of the earthquake in Irpinia in 1980 had, in fact, highlighted the need to establish a structure that would deal permanently with civil protection.
The Department carries out tasks of guidance, promotion and coordination of the entire National Service of Civil Protection.
In close liaison with the Regions and Autonomous Provinces, it elaborates and coordinates the National Plans for risk scenarios and tests their effectiveness through exercises, coordinates the intervention of the Service to the occurrence of emergencies of national importance, promotes activities aimed at predicting and preventing risks, defines the general criteria for the identification of seismic areas and elaborates the general guidelines for training activities in the field of civil protection.
The Department also coordinates the participation of the National Service in the civil protection policies of the European Union and the intervention in emergencies abroad.