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SIMIT-THARSY

Tsunami Hazard Reduction System
Classification: 
international research
Programme: 
Transfrontier cooperation programmes
Call: 
INTERREG V-A ITALIA -MALTA 2014-2020
Main ERC field: 
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Unict role: 
Partner
Duration (months): 
36
Start date: 
Thursday, March 1, 2018
End date: 
Monday, March 1, 2021
Total cost: 
€ 310.000,00
Unict cost: 
€ 46.500,00
Coordinator: 
Dipartimento Regionale della Protezione Civile – Presidenza della Regione Siciliana
Principal investigator in Unict: 
Agata Di Stefano
University department involved: 
Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences
Cutgana - Centro Universitario per la tutela e la gestione degli ambienti naturali e degli agro-ecosistemi
Participants: 

Università degli Studi di Palermo, Civil Protection Department, Università di Malta

Abstract

The project is in continuity with the one called "SIMIT" and financed in the framework of the Italy-Malta 2007-2008 call for proposals, focusing on the identification of potentially seismogenic areas and tsunamo-genic areas in the region between Eastern Sicily and the Channel of Sicily.

With the aid of a large-scale methodology, a multidisciplinary database will be produced, consisting of tectonic, geological maps containing geophysical data, bathymetric data, GPS, floods, current and historical seismicity, and areas in disarray. All this information can be used to define the effects of a possible earthquake and a subsequent tsunami on an area facing the coast.

This new project will establish the state of the art on knowledge, but above all an advanced and innovative platform that will include:

  • Maps of active faults in the Ionian Sea and in the Sicilian Channel;
  • Shaking maps in case of strong motion;
  • Flooding maps in case of off-shore seismicity able to generate tsunamis;
  • Maps of vulnerability to pre- and post-earthquake / tsunami instability.

This platform will be used in synergy with the Civil Protection of Sicily and Malta, both for the planning of a cross-border emergency protocol, both to raise awareness and raise awareness of the community on the risk and danger associated with tsunami events in coastal areas.

In particular, the production of the above maps, along coastal areas characterized by the presence of industrial sites and tourist activities, will allow to produce a complete characterization of the risk present in the area.