ABSTRACT

Landslides, floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are common events in Italy that cause damage every year. Systematic information exists on the consequences of landslides and floods for the population of this country (Guzzetti 2000, Salvati et al. 2003). For this paper, we have revised and updated the catalogues of landslides and floods with human consequences compiled by Guzzetti (2000) and Salvati et al. (2003), and we have prepared a new catalogue of earthquakes and a list of volcanic events that have caused deaths, missing persons, injured people and homelessness in Italy. We use this information on historical damaging events to evaluate the risk posed by different natural hazards to the Italian population, and to compare it with levels of societal and technological hazards and of the leading medical causes of death in Italy.