For some days the inhabited area of Boccassuolohamlet of the Municipality of Palagano in Province of Modenais at the center of the national chronicles for a landslide who is slowly destroying everything he encounters on his path. Originated in the first days of April from Monte Cantierethe phenomenon has already caused the destruction of housing, roads And bridgesforcing the authorities to evacuate several people. The landslide movement that frightens the Apennines proceeds at a speed of 30 – 50 cm per hour and would have already traveled more than 100 meters. According to the declarations of Fabio Braglia, mayor of Palagano and president of the province of Modena, the situation “day after day takes on ever larger dimensions” and shows no sign of slowing down. Emilia Romagna has allocated to the funds To manage the first phases of the emergency and the decree that recognizes the state of regional crisis for the locality.
The numbers of the landslide movement
Estimates relating to the size of the landslide movement indicate an overall mass of Three million cubic meters of moved soilwhich proceeds to one speed of about 30-50 cm every hour. In all, the land of earth would measure between 2 and 3 kilometers of extension and a depth of about 500 meters. His speed in moving would seem increasing: on the night between Friday 25 and Saturday 26 April he would have fallen downstream of 27 meters, while on the day of 27 of additional 100. Only on the night between 27 and 28 he would have traveled another 40 meters.
According to what was declared to the newspaper The rest of the Carlino by Professor Alessandro Corsini, professor of geology applied to the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, “there landslide is propagating towards the Dragone stream: consequently thearea and the volumes involved increase. The speed in that sector is constant. It will take time for the casting to stop. ” The professor also added that this type of landslide is very frequent in the territory of Modena, as the landslides of the woods of Valoria, Tolara and Lezza Nuova have shown in recent years (in the municipalities of Frassinoro and Montefiorino). In addition, the area where the inhabited area of Boccassuolo is located is part of those considered by the Administration “Area to be consolidated “since 1950precisely for his tending geological conformation.
Damage and evacuations
The landslide movement has already caused several damage and the hydrogeological risk is high. At the moment, 3 buildingsincluding 2 homes, have been destroyedwhile another house could collapse shortly. According to some findings three other houses were affected by instability. The landslide movement has also damaged four municipal roads in several points, three crossing bridges and a network of aqueducts that fed 35 houses. Several light poles for the average and low voltage managed by Enel have also been demolished. The observers are also concerned any damage to high voltage structures managed in the area by the Terna company. In particular, three poles of light considered at risk are under observation.
In addition to the damage to the infrastructure, the Franco movement has already forced the authorities to take precautions and to evacuate three families of residents in the area, for a total of 8 people. To these are added about twenty people who in recent days were in used houses as second houses (a dozen have been declared unusable in the last few days). In addition to the people evacuated for safety reasons, about fifty people are partially isolated due to the rough roads.
The response of the authority
While waiting for the government to declare the state of national disaster, the Emilia Romagna Region has already allocated 200 000 euros to manage the early stages of the emergency and sent about thirty Technicians on the spot. The instrumentation of the Geology Department of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia is also used on the spot, which allows you to constantly monitor the evolution of the geological phenomenon. President Michele De Pascale also signed the decree to recognize the state of regional crisis for Boccassuoloin order to make the interventions that may be necessary in the next few days more timely.
