Year 2012
Order of the Head of the Civil Protection Department No. 52 of February 20, 2013, similarly to Order of the President of the Council of Ministers No. 3907/10 and No. 4007/12, regulates the procedures for utilizing the funds provided for in Article 11 of Law 77/2009 for seismic risk mitigation measures, based on the guidelines issued by the Commission established by Order of the President of the Council of Ministers 3843/10. The new order, covering the year 2012, retains the structure of interventions already defined in previous orders, continuing the development of seismic microzonation (SM) studies, analysis of the Emergency Limit Condition (CLE), and interventions on private buildings, as well as urban structures and infrastructure of particular importance for civil protection plans. Funding is allocated exclusively to municipalities where the maximum ground acceleration is equal to or greater than 0.125g (areas of higher seismic risk). Regions are required to allocate a minimum of 20% and a maximum of 40% of the funding assigned to them for interventions on private buildings. Regions receiving less than 2 million euros in funding are not required to activate these grants.
Grants for SM studies are awarded to regions and local authorities that co-finance at least 25% of the cost. This co-financing share may be reduced to 15% for municipalities that are part of a municipal union where no SM studies or CLE analyses have been carried out.
With regard to interventions on public buildings, priority is given to buildings located near an evacuation route designated in the provincial or municipal emergency plan for seismic or volcanic risk, or to those that ensure the accessibility of such evacuation routes. Starting this year, SM studies must be necessarily accompanied by an analysis of the urban settlement’s CLE, to ensure greater integration of measures aimed at mitigating seismic risk and improving the management of emergency response activities immediately following an earthquake.
It should be noted that the analysis of the Emergency Limit Condition (CLE) identifies the condition under which an urban settlement, following an earthquake, despite sustaining damage that disrupts nearly all existing urban functions—including residential use—still preserves the operability of most key functions critical for emergency response, as well as their accessibility and connectivity with the surrounding area.
Support and monitoring, at the national level, of SM studies and CLE analyses are provided by the Technical Commission established under Order of the President of the Council of Ministers (OPCM) 3907/10 and set up by Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers (DPCM) of April 21, 2011. The Technical Commission is supported by the CNR (National Research Centre) through an agreement with the Civil Protection Department for the conduct of preliminary activities, digital archiving, and management of the studies submitted by the Regions.
The measures planned for 2012, as in previous years are implemented through programs of the Regions and Autonomous Provinces, each of which has been allocated a share of the total fund proportional to the seismic risk of its territory, as calculated based on studies by the centers of competence of the Civil Protection Department. The allocation of resources among the Regions was established by the Decree of the Head of the Department dated April 15, 2013 (Official Gazette No. 160 of July 10, 2013).
Within ninety days of the publication in the Official Gazette of the Decree of the Head of the Civil Protection Department on the allocation of funds, the Regions prepare the specifications for conducting the seismic microzonation studies, after consulting with local authorities, and submit them to the Technical Commission. Within the following sixty days, the Regions select the contractors for the survey projects in the affected areas. The final reports must be completed within 240 days. The Regions, after consulting with the Technical Commission, definitively approve the studies with a certificate of compliance, followed by payment of the final balance to the contractors.