Emergency Preparedness and Management at the University of L ’aquila (Central Italy) and the Role of Students’ Associations in the April 6th 2009 Earthquake

Conclusions Italy lacks a culture of disaster prevention and preparedness and relays mostly on adaptive tactics rather than on strategic planning to face emergencies. The case of the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake confirm this state of affairs. The university of L’Aquila lacked a pre-disaster mitigation and recovery plan and only a small portion of students knew some emergency procedures. The information, training and drill activities were not enough to produce an acceptable level of emergency preparedness among students. Indeed, Universities may potentially represent a fertile ground to promote a culture of safety and stop this trend. Greater awareness and involvement should be pushed forward at each level (administrators, faculties, students) to plan in advance for adverse scenarios, and to make steps toward the development of a culture of safety in Italy. Further discussion and research on Universities’s emergency preparedness is necessary, also better to clarify the role that Student Associations may play to support and spread a culture of prevention and safety. Data Availability Data can be accessed at: https://figshare.com/projects/Emergency_preparedness_and_management_at_the_University_of_L_Aquila/17759 Competing Interest The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Source: PLOS Currents Disasters - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Source Type: research