We published a book entitled “Eventi alluvionali in Calabria nel periodo 1990-1999” (Alluvial events in Calabria from 1990 to 1999)

Link to the Book» 

The volume is the result of a study that lasted more than a year, and was part of long-lasting research effort to investigate historical landslide and flood events in Calabria, which started in the ‘70s of last century.

To search the information, we went to the Public Provincial Library of Cosenza, where we read all the 3651 editions of the daily newspaper “La Gazzetta del Sud” published from 1 January 1990 to 31 December 1999.
Reading the newspapers has allowed us to identify numerous articles describing geo-hydrological events (e.g., landslides, floods) in Calabria in the investigated period. In this way, we have selected over 1500 articles, which we have photographed and copied for the parts of our interest.

The next step consisted in selecting and organizing the information on geo-hydrological events, which totalled 1075. In the book, the events are presented in chronological order, from oldest to newest. The territorial unit of reference is generally the municipality, although for some events information is reported for many municipalities.
The catalogue also lists information on climate effects related to droughts, on mitigation works, on the effects of local earthquakes, on provision of welfare benefits for damage suffered by the population and references to religious services to commemorate floods, or to propitiate the rain during dry periods.

Results

The book is an important source of information for scientists studying the geo-hydrological events in Calabria. The information listed in the book can be useful to the reconstruction of event scenarios and for identifying areas most commonly affected by landslides and floods.