This morning we talked about emergencies and prevention with the Minister for Civil Protection and Maritime Policies, Nello Musumeci. It was introduced by the president of the Scientific Society, Franco Introna, and the national secretary and president of the Congress, Lucio Di Mauro.
“The community believes that the State must be the guarantor of the safety of each of us. A disaster destroys, the State rebuilds and even compensates movable assets. The question is: are we sure that the Italian State can have sufficient funds for this type of activity forever and for everyone? I’ll give you the answer straight away: no. In Italy we have a Civil Protection system that is among the most appreciated in the world; we have always favored emergencies, but we must also work towards strengthening prevention”. With these opening words, during the last day of the 46th Congress of the Italian Society of Forensic Medicine, Minister Musumeci highlights the importance of prevention from the perspective of natural risk: “Italy is the only country which compensates communities affected by a disaster up to their real estate. In other countries, even in Europe, and not just in places like Japan and the United States, the citizen takes out an insurance policy against natural risks”.
The government – continues the minister – operates on the prevention front also with a view to protecting public finances: “We have established a commission which includes representatives of insurance companies and in the meantime in the 2024 budget law we have set a criterion: the companies , excluding agricultural ones, must take out an insurance policy against natural risks. This is the first step, then we will move on to the families. The participation of the citizen through the subscription of an insurance policy allows the government to intervene better in support in the event of disasters because it is clear that the State does not remain on the sidelines, it does not stand by and watch”.
The minister’s request to the Italian Society of Forensic Medicine for “collaboration if it becomes necessary to translate initiatives into regulatory assets that could fill any gaps in this matter”. The response from the president, Franco Introna, and the secretary, Lucio Di Mauro, was ready: “We will go to the minister with concrete proposals, he is our privileged interlocutor. We want to carry out preventive action in the context of the emergency; our plan is to create forensic medicine guidelines that can act both on mass disasters managed by the judicial authority, where we are already there, and on natural risks managed by civil protection where there is still a lot of work to be done. Forensic medicine has been dealing with emergencies for over twenty years and our commitment, in addition to the drafting of operational protocols, is also in promoting the need for regional forensic medicine centers available 24 hours a day in the management of mass disasters, with forensic doctors , anthropologists and laboratories behind us”. Faced with these major emergencies, concludes Professor Introna, only “adequately prepared forensic medicine in structurally suitable centers can deal with mass disasters by offering a social service to Italians and the nation”.
