A cohesive team and in the field throughout the national territory. SISMIKO is the Emergency Operations Group of INGV which deals with the coordination of Emergency Mobile Seismic Networks in emergencies.
Its activity takes place directly in the heart of the areas hit by strong earthquakes to improve the monitoring of the territory and perfect the collection of data on seismic events.
We interviewed Milena Moretti, one of the "founding fathers" of SISMIKO and today its Coordinator, to find out the details of her work and learn more about the activities in which the Operational Group is involved.
Milena, what SISMIKO's work consists of and what is yours mission?
SISMIKO is one of the five official Operational Groups of INGV, with which we coordinate constantly, especially in the emergency phases. The fundamental objective of our Group, which underpins all our work, is to improve the monitoring of areas affected by strong earthquakes or seismic sequences.
Improving it means actually going to the area and installing new seismic stations, the so-called Temporary (or Mobile) Seismic Network, to add observation points and perfect the location of subsequent events. This allows us to refine the data relating to the epicentral coordinates and hypocentral depth of earthquakes, but also to increase the number of seismic events that we are able to record. This is because the greater the number of stations present in a given area, the greater will also be the number of localized earthquakes, since it will be possible to record even the smallest tremors which would otherwise be "invisible" to less dense seismic networks.
All this helps a lot in the seismic monitoring and surveillance service that we carry out as INGV, because all our stations record in real time and the data collected is immediately integrated into the national system; but our work also plays an important role in research. Indeed, both after the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake and after the 2016 Amatrice earthquake, our seismic catalogs have been enriched by an impressive amount of data collected also thanks to our Mobile Network.
Our mission, therefore, is to improve the seismic monitoring service of our territory for the purposes of civil protection and seismological research and, above all, to do this in the shortest possible time: we take action for events with a magnitude greater than 5.0 (although to work even on much smaller seismic sequences) and we generally intervene within a few hours of the shock.
How long have you held the role of Coordinator of SISMIKO?
Forever! SISMIKO was officially born in July 2015, but in reality it existed much earlier. The first time we said each other “Ok, let's create a Group” and we coined the name "SISMIKO" it was December 12, 2011, so we recently celebrated our ninth birthday. Many other colleagues and I strongly wanted this project: it is in a certain way the "son" of a long tradition of emergency seismic intervention that INGV has always carried out, even when - before 1999 - it was still ING.
SISMIKO is therefore a "choral" project. How many colleagues does it have?
About 90, distributed throughout the national territory, in the various offices and sections of the Institute. For me, this is one of the most beautiful aspects of our Group: it was difficult to get together, but strongly desired by everyone, and in the end this is the beauty. Being present practically throughout Italy, we have the advantage of being able to intervene anywhere in a very short time.
What does it mean for you to hold the position of Coordinator of this Group?
On a personal level it is a privilege. SISMIKO is a huge success for me: I've always wanted it. It is also a great responsibility towards the Body, due to the commitment that INGV has with the Civil Protection Department, to which, in the event of an earthquake crisis, we owe the technical-scientific answers on what is happening. Thanks to our work in the field, by increasing the observation points we improve the information that we can transmit to the decision makers.
But it is also a responsibility towards colleagues, and most of the time I only realize this after the emergency has passed. Because an important part of my job consists in deciding who will physically travel to the epicentral area, and it is never a trivial choice.
Planning an emergency and then dealing with the unexpected that it brings with it is a challenge that has always stimulated me a lot. The difficulty in managing emergencies lies in having to imagine what will happen, what will have to be done and how. But then the time comes and all this must be put into practice, and only then do you realize if you did all that planning work right or wrong. This is what we usually test in exercises, but there's nothing we can do, when an emergency arrives there's always something that can go wrong: the car that won't start, the station that doesn't work even though it was the day before perfect… In any case we must be able to face all the unknowns that arise.
What has been, in recent years, the most important professional episode that took place in the context of SISMIKO's activities that you would like to tell?
There are so many of them and I find it difficult to choose just one. I remember every single seismic sequence I've worked on: sometimes they make fun of us, but the truth is that now we scan our lives based on the before and after of each emergency. Each one means something to us, on a professional level but also and above all on a human level.
However, one of the most beautiful professional episodes that I remember with more pleasure was certainly the meeting with the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, who in 2018 came to visit the Institute's Rome office. I represented SISMIKO and I remember that the President asked each of us Coordinators of the Operational Groups questions: it was a very emotional moment and I think a great recognition for those who wanted and managed to organize that meeting.
In your work you mainly deal with emergencies, so the subject is absolutely delicate. But is there a more informal and "light" dimension in your activities?
Luckily Yes. I must say that, although our work inevitably leads us to deal with delicate and complex issues, the fact of working with friends even before with colleagues helps a lot, even in the most difficult situations, to find the "good ” in what is being done.
Trivially, it makes me think, for example, of how every time you go on site and someone welcomes you into their home to install a station, they often do so by offering you a coffee. From this point of view, seeing citizens who understand your work and somehow help you complete it is a great satisfaction and makes you feel useful.
And then there are all the moments that we collect during the many exercises and experiments we do during the year: we spend time together, we get to know each other better and funny episodes always emerge.
Have the changes introduced by the Covid-19 emergency in traditional ways of carrying out work - such as, for example, the use of smartworking - affected your business?
A lot, like most people. Inevitably, the focus was on products that could be made remotely and this gave us the opportunity to complete work that had been on site for some time. As far as we are concerned, I cannot fail to mention the publication of the SISMIKO website (): it was a project we had been working on for about a year and a half and that we couldn't finish.
On the other hand, however, as is logical, there is a great lack of human contact with other people and with colleagues: there is no looking at each other, no handshakes, no facial expressions and tone of voice. We are working remotely and we have most of the contacts via email or videoconference, which are undoubtedly fundamental tools in this phase but which will never restore the fullness, genuineness and empathy of face-to-face communication.
What will SISMIKO do as soon as it's possible to safely return to a more sociable way offline?
I really hope an exercise in the countryside: I was talking about it with colleagues just a few days ago. We said to each other that as soon as we can we'll all go somewhere together because it's something we really miss a lot.
And then I would say that the commitment is to continue to improve ourselves: to become better and better, to always go first, to make fewer mistakes, to share our activities with others - inside and outside the organization. And then, well, then we'll see!