The L'Aquila earthquake of 6 April 2009 deeply shook Italy, generating a strong wave of emotion and solidarity that affected the entire country.
Professionals from every sector have offered specific skills and competences by placing themselves at the service of the affected population in body and soul.
Even INGV took the field with its resources. In this interview Concetta Nostro, seismologist, and Massimo Crescimbene, psychologist, retrace the months following the event, spent side by side with the citizens of the areas involved.
Concetta, could you introduce yourself to our readers?
My name is Concetta Nostro and I have been working as a seismologist at INGV for 20 years. In my life I have had to deal with earthquakes since I was a child: I lived in Veneto with my family and the memory of the earthquake of 6 May 1976 in Friuli is still very strong. I have dedicated a lot of time to seismological research, but for more than 15 years I have been mainly involved in information, communication and seismic risk reduction projects.
Massimo, could you introduce yourself to our readers?
My name is Massimo Crescimbene and I have been working at INGV since 1999. My professional experience began with the National Volcanology and Earthquake Defense Groups of the National Research Council (CNR) in 1986. Given my training as a psychologist, I have always worked on issues of prevention and education of the population to natural phenomena, such as earthquakes and volcanic phenomena. My work, over the years, has been framed in a branch of psychology that calls itself emergency psychology, which deals with the before, during and after the event.
Concetta, what did the L'Aquila earthquake represent for INGV's emergency activities?
The earthquake emergency in L'Aquila was the first great experience of coordinated intervention by all the technical, scientific and emergency support components of INGV.
Everything that has been achieved in Abruzzo has been the result of various experiences and professionalism gained over the years in the context of risk reduction projects, in the information sector and in emergency management. As far as seismic risk reduction projects are concerned, the EDURISK project (editor's note: www.edurisk.it) had already developed professionalism, tools and methods for starting risk mitigation itineraries in different contexts and situations.
For emergency information management, the INGV National Earthquake Center (now the National Earthquake Observatory) had launched a project since 2008 for the creation of the information component of the Seismic Emergency Operations Center (COES), a structure that represents the logistics component of the Seismic Emergency Response network (today Sismiko). This structure was still in full planning when the L'Aquila earthquake occurred and, therefore, we suddenly found ourselves in an unexpected executive phase. To ensure a good service, it was decided to have those who were planning the information component of the COES intervene in the epicentral area and to involve colleagues who had participated in other similar initiatives, showing professionalism, responsibility and sensitivity, necessary requisites in a dramatic and complex situation like the emergency in Abruzzo.
How was your work at COES in Abruzzo?
My colleague Milena Moretti and I arrived in L'Aquila two days after the earthquake, on 8 April. The CNT has activated the COES within the Command and Control Directorate (Di.Coma.C.) of Coppito (AQ). This INGV garrison had the aim of promoting direct, extremely rapid communication with the Civil Protection Department (DPC) and, thanks to the constant presence of seismologists, made it possible to reduce the time required for preliminary communication of each seismic event in the area affected by the sequence. COES, with its seismologists and psychologists, played a fundamental role in disseminating information during the emergency on the progress of the seismic sequence in progress, on the historical and recent seismicity of the area, but also on the emotional reactions associated with the earthquake and on possible interventions for the emotional management of experiences related to the emergency.
In the first two weeks of activity, COES provided informative, scientific and psychological support to both rescuers and the affected population. This initiative made it possible to quickly understand the information needs of the people involved in the emergency and therefore to plan targeted interventions. Among these, the EmerFOR project, aimed at teachers present in reception camps; the project La Terra tretteca… Ji No!, aimed at the population residing in the reception camps; and the project La Terra tretteca… Ji No! - Back to school, aimed at schools in the areas most affected by the earthquake.
Massimo, can you tell us about the EmerFOR project and the meetings with the population in the tent cities?
The idea of the EmerFOR project was born in the field starting from the experience of the first weeks at COES, where my colleague Federica La Longa - also a psychologist at INGV - and I essentially carried out a psychoeducational activity on emotions, aimed at all the population that in those early days attended the Di.Coma.C. in Coppito. With Federica we realized that there was a great need to make the population understand that the strong and intense emotions that people feel after a catastrophic event like the one they experienced are absolutely normal from a human point of view. There is nothing sick or pathological about feeling angry, depressed, anxious, lost, or having trouble sleeping. This is why we convinced ourselves that the best thing was to meet as many people as possible in the tent cities and that a good starting point could be to start with the teachers, who continued to carry out their work with the students in the camps. Therefore, taking advantage of the contacts with the institutions present at the Di.Coma.C. we have proposed, in agreement with the COES and with the EDURISK project, in agreement with the Provincial School Office of L'Aquila and the Regional School Office for Abruzzo, a series of meetings for the teachers present in the tent cities to provide a immediate information and training support for the displaced school population.
With a cycle of twelve meetings, between 20 April and 28 May, we listened to 492 teachers. The activities were divided into two teaching modules: one dedicated to the area of knowledge on the earthquake, the history and seismic hazard of the Abruzzo area, the evolution of the seismic sequence taking place in 2009 and the elements for risk reduction. The other module was instead dedicated to the area of "knowing how to be", linked to the exploration of the emotional experiences of the earthquake, to the psychoeducational contents for the management of emotions and to the proposal of educational paths to face the “earthquake stress”.
These activities have allowed teachers to acquire, in a very short time, knowledge, tools and minimum skills to individually manage the emergency phase and face, in the best possible way, the resumption of teaching activities, with the awareness of being able to assume a more active in providing psychological support to children and young people during the emergency.
The project “La Terra tretteca… Ji no!” it was the natural continuation of EmerFOR. Its purpose was to deal with the earthquake emergency with a multidisciplinary approach (seismological, historical, psychological and social) to help the affected population understand what happened in the overall context of the danger and risk of the area, providing resources and strategies for emotional and psychosocial adaptation in the post-emergency phase, which could stimulate a new model of reconstruction and management of the territory itself.
The essential contribution of these various emergency interventions, and in particular of the project in the tent cities, was to provide the opportunity to dissolve the strong tensions present in the population, also towards the institutions, helping to recreate a climate of respect and trust towards the scientific community.
Concetta, can you tell us about your experience with schools after the earthquake of April 6?
At the beginning of September 2009, we launched the project “La Terra tretteca… Ji no! - Back to school”. The Regional School Office for Abruzzo, also taking into account the INGV proposal to start a cycle of meetings with teachers to encourage the restart of school activities, has appointed a group of experts to carry out a project with schools.
The staff consisted of a seismologist, a psychologist and a technician responsible for school safety planning. This project envisaged providing updated information on the earthquake and on the progress of the sequence, a general overview of the psychological aspects, some indications on the safety measures to be adopted in individual schools and indications on the management of a possible emergency at school.
Overall, between 7 and 19 September we met over 2700 people including teachers, managers and ATA staff from the city of L'Aquila and the provinces of L'Aquila, Teramo and Pescara.
This initiative has certainly contributed to appropriately addressing a series of problematic aspects that would have made the delicate phase of reopening schools more difficult, making it possible to recreate a climate of greater respect and trust in the institutions that were working to restore, fatigue, an apparent normality.
Massimo, your experience with schools didn't end there though...
No, in fact! In the following years we worked on a project between INGV and Save the Children. Once again this collaboration, which lasted at least two years starting from the earthquake of April 6, was born by bringing together the different skills of this group of people. The earthquake, in this phase, was in the background, but it was an ever-present scenography that accompanied and marked our work. The workshops, designed to involve and work together with the students, were very popular. The themes were those of normal life, of everyday life, made up of relationships, losses, changes and difficulties faced and resolved together with the boys. The story of all the workshops carried out was presented by the students themselves to our Institute, in a day's work that has remained forever in my heart.
Concetta and Massimo, what do you have left of the experiences you had?
Concetta
The lived experience has greatly changed our way of communicating and has put our abilities and skills to the test. What we have tried to achieve in L'Aquila and its surroundings has been possible thanks to the wonderful interaction with the people of L'Aquila, with all those who have rushed from all over Italy to help the people of L'Aquila and with colleagues who have collaborated to ensure continuous and detailed information on the seismic sequence underway in Abruzzo.
I feel particular gratitude towards the volunteer psychologists who have helped us to carry out, with so much enthusiasm and professionalism, the projects of "psycho-seismological support" for the population affected by this tragedy. These experiences have represented an extraordinary heritage that we have taken into due consideration for the management of subsequent emergencies such as the one in Emilia in 2012 and in Central Italy in 2016-2017.
Massimo
The experience of L'Aquila left me a lot. The earthquake of April 6, 2009 is inextricably linked to the birth of my son Francesco. Much of my commitment and my love that was dedicated to him at that time spread and channeled into the post-earthquake work in L'Aquila.
But the distance from my son, at that moment, helped me understand how strong the lack and the pain of those who lose something dear could be.
This thought has often accompanied me in the following years and for this reason L'Aquila always has a special place in my heart.
Furthermore, after the earthquake I met the woman I love today and my life's companion: a strong and special bond, never told in recent years, but which perhaps arises precisely from the enrichment of the unique soul that she gave me this experience. In this sense, I feel as if I had been emotionally shaken earlier and, that night at 3.32, I woke up surprised to be alive, with only one thought in mind, a fixed idea: to go get my contact lenses, which they save me from the damn myopia. Indeed, without my lenses, I would not have been able to find her, my precious love. Lenses first lost, then, throwing a hand into the dark, finally found. Finding, with them, a light in my eyes, unique, intoxicating, with my love who is next to me again. All this, for me, is L'Aquila.