Reduction of environmental risk from capable faults: The case of the Eastern Etna region (eastern Sicily, Italy)

To reduce the environmental risk from faulting, APAT-Italian Agency for Environment Protection and for Technical Services-has compiled a georeferenced database, where capable faults, extract from ITHACA (Italy Hazard from Capable Faults) catalogue, and water supply and other environmentally sensible networks are overlapped to pinpoint zones of expected damage. This tool is fundamental in land planning and during an emergency, as seen during the 2002 Santa Venerina earthquake when the environmental agency needed to quickly verify the integrity of the water distribution and sewage networks.