Salò Earthquake Preparedness and Seismic Risk Management Strategies
“No fear of earthquakes, but the ability to handle potential emergencies.” This was the guiding principle announced by geologist Piero Fiaccavento who, after leading Sunday’s drill with a megaphone, walkie-talkie, camera, and cell phones (saving noisy Boy Scouts by transporting them to Portese on motorboats and dinghies, locating a newly qualified female doctor trapped under debris with probes, monitors, and a chainsaw, assisting two elderly residents in the empty nursing home, and treating a girl crouched in her bathroom with the help of stretcher-bearers), was among the speakers at the conference held the other evening in the Sala dei Provveditori of the Salò town hall.
Fiaccavento discussed the movements of the Earth’s crust, explained the magmatic pressures of Monte Baldo (64 million years ago), and mentioned the faults crossing Lake Garda.
Pasquale Maggi, the delegated Councillor for Civil Protection, recalled that “in Salò, the seismicity situation is unfortunately medium-high,” also highlighting “the risk of landslides on Colle San Bartolomeo and along the Barbarano stream valley or, in case of heavy rains, of floods both of the lake, as happened last autumn, and of the main watercourses.”
“Doubly important are the cases of arson, although they seem to be decreasing,” he said. “In the past, some areas near Renzano, Madonna del Rio, Pignino localities, and Seggiovia were affected by fire. The Municipal Civil Protection is crucial both for unpredictable events and for other calamities, often caused by human errors.”
Maggi proposed establishing a computerized system for data collection and management, extending it to all areas of the Montane Community Park.
The president of this entity, Bruno Faustini, emphasized the difficulties in drafting a comprehensive plan. “There are towns with 15 districts, traffic issues, etc.,” he said. “The coastal strip, squeezed between the lake and the mountains, ranges from 60 meters altitude to 2000 meters at Magasa and Valvestino.”
The provincial councillor Enzo Cossu sent his regards, underscoring the seismic risk in the Brescia territory. Regarding Garda, the list of tremors is quite long (the last one occurred between Saturday and Sunday night). The most violent, between the eighth and ninth degrees on the Mercalli scale, dates back to 1936, with an epicenter between Torri and Peschiera.
In the second part of the evening, the 1901 earthquake was recalled, marking the centenary. Classified between the 7th and 8th degrees, it caused one death in Salò (a woman running frightened along via Gasparo was hit in the head by a chimney) and another in Cacavero, the current Campoverde, then an independent municipality (a boy at the time).
Ceilings, cornices, chimneys, church crosses, bell towers domes, and parts of old, poorly built structures collapsed. Cracks, mostly vertical, opened in houses. On the lakeshore, some gardens and terraces subsided.
The seismic period, which began suddenly with an exceptionally strong movement, lasted 102 days, with a total of 38 tremors.
Giuliano Fusi recounted the ordeal of those days, with impassable streets, more than 50 hazardous houses, and 200 families forced to rely on charity. People slept in carriages and tents.
Vittorio Pirlo, president of the Ateneo, remembered the courage and sense of responsibility of mayor Marco Leonesio. Giuseppe Zanardelli, the head of government, had the new master plan approved and a special law passed that funded relief efforts.
“The building reform had been considered for some time,” Pirlo said. “Salò felt the need to extend towards the water.” This led to the construction of the lakeside promenade, inaugurated on September 8, 1906. Zanardelli and Leonesio, who had meanwhile passed away, did not live to see the completion of the project.
In their place on the stage of authorities, senator Pompeo Molmenti and Donato Fossati spoke.
The new surveyor Marco Ghiselli and the vice-principal of the “Battisti” Technical Institute, Piercarlo Belotti, finally discussed the research conducted, which will be published by December. “Those years after the 1901 earthquake were very significant,” Belotti concluded. “Salò changed appearance with 600,000 lire of public funding.
Following the construction of the lakeside promenade in 1907, work began on restoring the degraded Sant’Antonio neighborhood.” The signs of the earthquake are still visible today. Just look at the facades of the houses on the narrow central street (via S. Carlo, via Butturini), which are slightly inclined.
