EDURISK joins scientific research with school-teaching, and aims at increasing general awareness on risk mitigation by developing educational tools and hands-on learning activities.

The EDURISK project started in 2002 from the experience of the two largest Italian research institutes in the field of natural risk mitigation, the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (Milan, Bologna, Rome, Naples and Catania branches) and the Osservatorio Geofisico Sperimentale of Trieste. Two Italian leading firms in scholastic and multi-media publishing are also part of the project: GIUNTI Educational Projects, Florence and “ConUnGioco”.

Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions should not be seen exclusively as physical and geological events; in fact, they have a great impact on society. An effective risk mitigating strategy can be achieved by shifting the management of such processes from the scientific and emergency realms to one that involves human society as a whole.

Understanding natural events phenomena and their impact on the vulnerability of the human environment is the first step towards the development of personal and collective responsible behaviours. Moreover, officially planned strategies for earthquake risk mitigation cannot be neither effective nor long-lasting without the cooperation and support of the populations involved. If people are well informed, then they become the first helpers of themselves.

The main objectives of EDURISK project are:

• to disseminate reliable scientific information on natural risks. To really “understand” something such as an extreme natural event, you need first of all to set it in its natural, historical and cultural context.
• to improve awareness of the seismic and volcanic risk as part of everyday life. Knowing how to behave in a risky situation as individuals and as social groups can minimize the consequences of a destructive events.

EDURISK’s school activities are based on training courses for teachers, both through seminars and distance-learning modules, and on learning activities for students, based on a multidisciplinary approach. The educational experiences had been fitted to the specific local environment of each school, from the geographical, historical and cultural point of view.
Moreover, all materials had also been adapted to the learning abilities of four age ranges. The educational tools were tested “in vivo”, within the frame of an educational experiment during a whole school year involving about 1,000 teachers and 20,000 students from nursery, primary and lower secondary schools.

This website is a user-friendly resource for people taking part in EDURISK’s educational activities and for anyone wanting to improve personal awareness on natural risks too.
Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are events likely to inspire fear. Ignoring them is both useless and dangerous, while learning about natural calamities can turn unreasoning fear into curiosity for our everyday environment.

Do you have comments, questions or an earthquake experience to relate? Please share them with us and give EDURISK the benefit of your experience and suggestions.