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Risk Faults. Relocation, Displacement and Homemaking on the Slopes of Mount Etna (Italy).

Mara Benadusi1; Mario Mattia2 ; Vincenzo Lo Bartolo1

  • Affiliations: 1 Università degli Studi di Catania, Dipartimento di Scienze Politiche e Sociali; 2 Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Osservatorio Etneo

  • Presentation type: Poster

  • Presentation time: Thursday 16:30 - 18:30, Room Poster Hall

  • Poster Board Number: 273

  • Programme No: 7.3.4

  • Theme 7 > Session 3

Abstract

Between 2023 and 2024, the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Catania, in collaboration with the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) and the Commissioner's Office for the Reconstruction of the Etna Area (SCRAE), launched an experimental project on disaster anthropology. This research focused on the relocation processes affecting households in nine municipalities on the eastern slope of Mount Etna, impacted by the severe seismic event of December 26, 2018 induced by the sudden intrusion of two dikes close to the SE crater of Mount Etna (Mattia et al. 2020). SCRAE adopted a selective relocation strategy, moving only families whose homes and productive activities were located near the fault line, marking a notable departure from traditional post-seismic reconstruction strategies in Italy. The project explored the experiences of forced displacement and the evolving dynamics of homemaking that followed. Key findings included the role of economic incentives in fostering acceptance of institutional decisions, the positive impact of negotiation mechanisms employed by the reconstruction agency, and the gradual reshaping of local perceptions about living in an area frequently exposed to moderate, yet potentially devastating, seismic events related to volcanic activity.