More than 80,000 landslides occurred following the meteorological events of May 2023 in the provinces of Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna, Ravenna, Forlì Cesena and Rimini. Of these, more than 600 are larger than 1 hectare and there are over 3000 buildings and more than 300 kilometres of roads affected by landslides, directly or in the immediate vicinity at a distance of less than 20 metres.
Mapping of the hydrogeological instability began immediately after the events of May 2023 per make landslide areas easily identifiable, the subject of the regulatory guidelines identified by the Special Plan on instability approved by the Extraordinary Commissioner for Reconstruction and the subject of temporary safeguard measures, adopted by Decree of the General Secretary of the Po River District Basin Authority. All data are now available for consultation in WebGis “Flood May 2023 – Slope Disturbances” created by the Emilia-Romagna Region Land Defense Sector in collaboration with the Universities of Bologna and Modena and Reggio Emilia.
The methodology used for the mapping is mainly based on the photointerpretation of high resolution aerial and satellite images made available immediately after the events, integrated locally by information acquired following specialist surveys carried out in the emergency phase, by technical data acquired following surveys carried out by external geologists on behalf of local authorities or the national and regional civil protection system and from data acquired as part of information exchanges with local authorities and other infrastructure managers.
At the same time, the following were defined: areas affected by regulatory guidelines and safeguard measures following the landslides that occurred in May 2023 which are made up of the perimeters of the landslides that were activated following the meteorological events of May 2023 and a neighborhood of 20 meters outside them. These areas are subject to the regulatory guidelines indicated in paragraph 7.2.4 of the preliminary special plan on disaster, approved by the Extraordinary Commissioner for reconstruction in the territory of the Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany and Marche regions which can be consulted on the website Extraordinary Government Commissioner for reconstruction in the territories affected by the flood that occurred in Emilia Romagna, Tuscany and Marche – Presidency of the Council of Ministers
All map services, specifically prepared or of particular interest, to support emergency management and reconstruction activities following the events of May 2023 are available on the Geoportal of the Emailia-Romagna Region.
