NEOGEOGRAPHY AND SEISMIC RISK PERCEPTION. A COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO CASE STUDIES: CALABRIA, SOUTHERN ITALY AND MALTA
Published 2015-03-01
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Copyright (c) 2023 Francesco DE PASCALE, Marcello BERNARDO, Francesco MUTO, Sebastiano D’AMICO, Rosarianna ZUMBO, Pauline GALEA, Matthew AGIUS
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Abstract
Geography of perception aims at clarifying human behaviour by studying the concepts and
images of the real world that a person elaborates on by considering the psychological and
social aspects of man’s behaviour within an environment. In this context, a questionnaire was
given to primary and middle school pupils in an area of Calabria (Southern Italy), which has
recently been affected by an on-going seismic sequence widely felt by the local population.
The same questionnaire was given to students in Malta (Central Mediterranean), an area
considered to have a low-to-moderate seismic hazard, and where earthquake awareness is not
culturally strong. In this way, the knowledge effectively possessed by the students (relating to
age, experience and area of origin) are analysed; their analogous and differing perceptions on
earthquakes in different areas are highlighted. The data collected can be used to project and
create new informative tools through which students will become “geographic information
volunteers” studying natural risks such as earthquakes, and augmenting the territory’s level of
resilience.