Natural Hazards and Earth System Science www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net 1561-8633 1684-9981 10 1 2010 10.5194/nhess-10-109-2010 http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/10/109/2010/ http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/10/109/2010/nhess-10-109-2010.html http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/10/109/2010/nhess-10-109-2010.pdf 109 119 2010-01-19 A reflection about the social and technological aspects in flood risk management – the case of the Italian Civil Protection M. del Carmen Llasat carmell@am.ub.es F. Siccardi GAMA (Meteorological Hazards Analysis Team), Department of Astronomy & Meteorology, Faculty of Physics, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 647, 08028 Barcelona, Spain International Centre on Environmental Monitoring Research Foundation and Department of Computer Sciences, University of Genova, University Campus, Cadorna7, 17100 Savona, Italy The right of a person to be protected from natural hazards is a characteristic of the social and economical development of the society. This paper is a contribution to the reflection about the role of Civil Protection organizations in a modern society. The paper is based in the inaugural conference made by the authors on the 9th Plinius Conference on Mediterranean Storms. Two major issues are considered. The first one is sociological; the Civil Protection organizations and the responsible administration of the land use planning should be perceived as reliable as possible, in order to get consensus on the restrictions they pose, temporary or definitely, on the individual free use of the territory as well as in the entire warning system. 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