Historical Data for Natural Hazard Risk Mitigation and Land Use Planning

Abstract

This paper demonstrates how historical research is a valuable tool for identifying past geological, geomorphological and climatic hazards and therefore critical for mitigating and reducing future risk. The authors describe the potential of a scientific field that straddles that of the geologist, geographer, historian and archivist. Historical records include a range of materials and sources of information, which can be very diverse; from written documents to cartographies, and from drawings to marble tombstones. They are all useful and convey important data, on the date of the event, the size of the phenomena, sometimes on ground effects, damage or magnitude. The authors discuss how to conduct historical research by providing a list of locations and how important historical documents can be found. Works that mention geological phenomena are listed, starting with the first occasional descriptions by individuals in letters, up to very specific publications in individual fields of interest. With this introduction, the editors of the Special Issue wish to draw attention to the importance of historical documentation, which is too often ignored or considered of low priority by the scientific community, but can contain key information on events, their impacts and social and cultural adaptations.

The Effects of Strong Earthquakes on Built Heritage: A Preliminary Case Study of Rector’s Palace in Dubrovnik’s Old City

“…The overall aim is to find an affordable means of avoiding irretrievable damage to heritage structures in design-level earthquake shaking, e.g., 475-year hazard level [40][41][42]. Achieving this would not only be of great value to Dubrovnik City, i.e., owners of property subjected to destructive earthquakes, but could also make an important contribution to the sustainability of the built heritage [43,44], a matter of great importance to the community and its identity [45,46].…”

Rewinding the Tape: Documentary Heritage to (Re)discover “Lost” Natural Hazards—Evidence and Inferences from Southern Italy

“…Primary sources should be preferred; they involve direct and coeval traces of human presence or activity related to the hazard. Conversely, secondary sources are writings in which one or more primary sources are described, discussed, interpreted, commented, analysed, and summarized, usually also based on the consultation of other secondary sources [8]. Documents can be found in many different forms, including descriptive and cartographic archival sources (produced by central and local authorities, both civil and ecclesiastical), newspapers, photographs, books, plaques, tombstones, and epigraphs.…”

Earthquake-Induced Landslides in Italy: Evaluation of the Triggering Potential Based on Seismic Hazard

“…Sci. 2024, 14, 3435 2 of 17 Following in the footsteps of many works in Italy devoted to the risk mitigation of natural hazards and land-use planning [13][14][15][16][17], the scope of the present work was the assessment and mapping of the potential for triggering earthquake-induced landslides on a national scale. The results can be useful for seismic microzonation purposes, guiding landuse planners in mitigating risks, and enhancing preparedness and emergency response within the framework of disaster risk management.…”