Seismic Risk and Education: Engaging students in understanding earthquakes and exposure.

The Friuli Venezia Giulia (north-eastern Italy), a region prone to seismic events, represents a
natural laboratory for studying earthquakes, both past and present, and their consequences.
Seismic risk depends on three basic elements: hazard (i.e. the natural phenomenon),
exposure (buildings, people and other assets that are subjected to ground shaking) and
vulnerability (i.e. the tendency of exposed objects to be damaged by shaking). In this project,
developed at the “Niccolò Copernico” High School (Udine), students understood that risk can
be reduced by mitigating either exposure or vulnerability in two different ways: first, by
assessing buildings exposure and second, by reducing individuals vulnerability through
awareness and appropriate actions.
The project developed in two phases:1. During the first phase students contributed to the CEDAS project (Census of Building for
Seismic Damage Estimation) coordinated by the National Institute of Oceanography and
Applied Geophysics (OGS). They performed a survey of the current building stock in their
municipalities using a protocol developed by OGS researchers. This phase expanded the
existing CEDAS dataset, contributing to exposure assessment with information on relevant
features (height, shape, etc) for about 1800 buildings. This allowed students to understand
the fundamental elements of seismic exposure and, at the same time, to get familiar with the
characteristics of the territory where they live. This activity was carried out using a dedicated
platform developed within the national research project SMILE (Statistical Machine Learning
for Exposure development), coordinated by OGS.
2. In phase two, students learned how to process data using basic statistical tools, in order
to summarise, understand and present the main features of the collected buildings data.

Following this experience, students will examine the evacuation protocols of school buildings
and other aspects of earthquake emergency response within their school, in order to assess
potential weaknesses (signs, object placements, etc.) and propose potential improvements.

The combination of these activities will contribute enhancing risk awareness among the
younger generation.