In greeting and thanking the students and teachers for their participation in the initiative and the structures and bodies that made the organization of the competition possible, the provincial councilor reiterated the importance of this type of training and information initiative, capable of involve the population from a young age by teaching them knowledge of the territory and the correct behavior to adopt in the event of hydrogeological critical situations. The councilor then recalled the importance of the Trentino civil protection system, committed daily to guaranteeing communities that they can live in the area safely, while being aware of its intrinsic fragility, and invited the young people present to consider their commitment to the activities of civil protection volunteering by putting themselves at the service of the community.
Lorenzo Malpaga went into more detail about the initiative, launched in the 2022/2023 school year and replicated in recent months, which saw numerous meetings in schools during which the staff of the Bacini Montani, the representatives of the volunteer fire brigades and the local administrations explored the topic of protecting the territory from floods, delivering a copy of the comic book publication “Catinelle Floods, Better Anticipate!” to over two thousand students.
“For a territory like ours it is essential to have an aware population, capable of adopting the right behavior in the event of calamitous events in order to facilitate the intervention of the civil protection machine – explained Malpaga -. All the kids showed interest, curiosity, desire to learn more about the territory they live in and the works presented by the various institutes particularly impressed the commission with their originality, validity and variety of the products created”.
The students were invited to suggest to the Civil Protection technicians simpler and more direct ways of communicating flood danger than those generally used by public institutions. In particular, the announcement of the second edition of the competition asked the institutes to answer, through the work of their students, the question “Do you know the area in which you live, and in particular the main waterways that could constitute a danger for you, for your family members and your friends?”, inviting them to investigate the meaning of some toponyms linked to waterways and hydrogeological instability phenomena, to reconstruct harmful events that occurred in the area and identify possible lessons from such experiences.
Six institutes submitted their contributions within the deadline established by the competition.
The judging commission – made up of a representative of the Education Service, one of the Risk Prevention Service, one of the Press Office, the manager and three members of the Montani Basins Service – awarded six projects.
Each awarded institute was given a drop-shaped wooden trophy with the initiative’s logo and a participation diploma with the motivation for the award. All participating schools were given a bag containing some high visibility jackets and teardrop-shaped wooden keyrings.
The awarded schools
First place
Istituto Comprensivo Fondo-Revò – SSPG Fondo
Second place, ex aequo
Pergine 2 Comprehensive Institute Celestin Freinet – SSPG “Tullio Garbari”
Borgo Valsugana Comprehensive Institute – SSPG Borgo Valsugana “Ora E Veglia”
Fourth place
Ala Comprehensive Institute – SSPG
Fifth place, ex aequo
Istituto Comprensivo Primiero – SSPG (Secondary School) Canal San Bovo
Borgo Valsugana Comprehensive Institute – SSPG Grigno “Fante Silvano”
Archive images and videos at this link
Interview with Lorenzo Malpaga, Mountain Basin Service
