italian mudslides

• Mudslides swept through towns and villages in Campania

  killing nearly 300 people


  May 1998
• Sarno was the hardest hit town with 35000 people
• In 2 weeks up to the mudslide, up to a year's rainfall had fallen
• The area


  • Unstable, has active volcanoes such as Vesuvius and many mountains
• Following the mudslide, up to £18 million was allocated to repairing damage
• The disaster was only partial natural- much was down to human error
• Reasons for the mudslides

  1. River Sarno was cemented over

  2. Clay soils of the surrounding mountains had been rendered dangerously loose by forest fires and deforestation

  3. Houses had been built up hillsides identified as landslide zones

  4. Over 20% of the houses in Sarno built without permission
• Much of the regions fragility is due to mass construction, poor infrastructure and poor planning
• Natural reasons why Italy was at risk from landslides


  • The area is unstable and has active volcanoes such as Vesuvius and many mountains
  • 2 weeks before the landslide 2 years of rainfall had fallen
  • Many mountains and scores of fast flowing rivers
  • Lava is unstable, and large amounts of water can make lava liquid increasing chance of mudslide (900 million tonnes of material are washed down every year)
• Human factors that have increased the risk of mudslides in the region

  • River Sarno had dwindled to a trickle of water and part of the river bed had been cemented over
  • The clay soils of the surrounding mountains had been rendered dangerously loose by forest fires and deforestation
  • Houses had been built up hillsides identified as landslide zones
  • Italy's sudden entry into the industrial age in the 1960s led to the uncontrolled building of houses and roads and deforestation
  • Poor mass construction on lava and poor planning
• Similar mudslide threats are increasing throughout the Mediterranean region due to excess rainfall absorption, land clearing for development, and uncontrolled building
• Excess rainfall absorbed. But when you build on there it is impermeable and more surface run off – land cleared for development even if green belt land
• The land is cleared for development, veg is usually set on fire to clear, the growing incidence of forest fires around the Med isn't coincidental, many started deliberately.
• Throughout southern Europe, the easiest way to extend a house isn't to submit for approval but just do it. E.g. in Sicily, up to 20,000 holiday homes have been built on beaches, cliffs and wetlands. In Italy, 217,000 houses have been built without permission