Earthquake in Centre Italy

   Terremoto Centro Italia is an opensource and open access crowdsourcing platform with the purpose to provide a space where people can share useful and verified information and requests about earthquakes that hit Central Italy between 2016-2017. The platform is a no profit initiative totally based on the work of volunteers.
   2016
   Italy
   
   Crowdsourcing
   Country
   After
   Real-world
   Earthquake
   In August 2016, a big earthquake, magnitude 6.0, hit the Centre of Italy and created a lot of damages and victims: a lot of houses, edifices, and structures collapsed, also one of the hospitals has been damaged, and people found themselves homeless. There have been around 300 victims and around 400 wounded. In the first moments of the emergency, nobody knew the entity of the disaster. Then, a lot of information started to arrive but there was no a “virtual place” where to collect all the information. Thus, a group of computer technicians, experts in civic hacking, on a voluntary basis decided to create the platform where the information could be verified. A lot of people from Italy were engaged to ensure the platform could work effectively. People consulting the platform could see who and how to help or get help. The efficiency of the platform was ensured by the participation of ActionAid, an international NGO involved in the response phase.
   https://terremotocentroitalia.info/, https://github.com/emergenzeHack/terremotocentro/wiki
   
   OpenStreetMap
   yes
   Collecting and Analysing Information from SMCS, Mobilising Volunteers
   
   
   
   Problem of fake news and disinformation.

Problems of accessibility: there are some accessibility rules that have not been satisfied.

   It worked well, so it has been replicated for the COVID-19 pandemic.

People from different parts of Italy provided their help and support thanks to the section “Needs”. The platform is easy and intuitive to access, there are few sections but very clear. It allows people to have official information on behaviours to have and on what was happening. An NGO helped a lot in the diffusion and in the sharing of the platform, ensuring also the continuity in work and reliability of information. The information provided were verified before. The section “fake news” helped a lot of people to identify the correct information and avoid the risks of disinformation and fakes.

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Created: 14 October 2022
Last edited: 29 November 2023

Terremoto Centro Italia is an opensource and open access crowdsourcing platform with the purpose to provide a space where people can share useful and verified information and requests about earthquakes that hit Central Italy between 2016-2017. The platform is a no profit initiative totally based on the work of volunteers.

Hazard:

Earthquake

Year:

2016

Location:

Italy

Scale:

Country

Publishing Organisation

unknown

Category

Real-world

Theme

Crowdsourcing

Thematic

• Collecting and Analysing Information from SMCS
• Mobilising Volunteers

Disaster Management Phase

After

Description

In August 2016, a big earthquake, magnitude 6.0, hit the Centre of Italy and created a lot of damages and victims: a lot of houses, edifices, and structures collapsed, also one of the hospitals has been damaged, and people found themselves homeless. There have been around 300 victims and around 400 wounded. In the first moments of the emergency, nobody knew the entity of the disaster. Then, a lot of information started to arrive but there was no a “virtual place” where to collect all the information. Thus, a group of computer technicians, experts in civic hacking, on a voluntary basis decided to create the platform where the information could be verified. A lot of people from Italy were engaged to ensure the platform could work effectively. People consulting the platform could see who and how to help or get help. The efficiency of the platform was ensured by the participation of ActionAid, an international NGO involved in the response phase.

What worked well and could be recommended to others?

It worked well, so it has been replicated for the COVID-19 pandemic. People from different parts of Italy provided their help and support thanks to the section “Needs”. The platform is easy and intuitive to access, there are few sections but very clear. It allows people to have official information on behaviours to have and on what was happening. An NGO helped a lot in the diffusion and in the sharing of the platform, ensuring also the continuity in work and reliability of information. The information provided were verified before.

The section “fake news” helped a lot of people to identify the correct information and avoid the risks of disinformation and fakes.

What limitations were identified?

Problem of fake news and disinformation.

Problems of accessibility: there are some accessibility rules that have not been satisfied.

Which social media and crowdsourcing technologies were used?

• OpenStreetMap

Additional Links

• https://terremotocentroitalia.info/
• https://github.com/emergenzeHack/terremotocentro/wiki