Hazardscape, Territorial and Individual Resilience in an Interdisciplinary Study: The Case of Pollino, Southern Italy

In this work, certain aspects of the Pollino territory’s hazardscape are analysed. Pollino spans the border area between the Italian regions of Calabria and Basilicata which has been the centre of a seismic swarm (up to Mw 5.6) over the last 3 years. The factors which have been taken into consideration in this research have been true risk, perceived risk and local resilience. Therefore, the study focuses upon the role of seismic risk perception in strengthening, or not, local resilience and individuals’ behaviour. The research develops through the use of direct and indirect sources. Interviews were used to discover what level of knowledge people have and how it relates to their age, experience and where they are from. Field work was carried out focusing on ‘mental map’ and questionnaires. The relation between hazardscape and community response highlights the awareness, perception, past experience, response culture and trust in various response measures and agencies. This helps to identify the areas and causes of weakness and shortcomings that contribute to the social vulnerability and break down in the equilibrium between the population, environment and resources, the most frequent reason for the triggering of catastrophes.