Language:
Search
 
Linea Amica Abruzzo
Formez PA
Italy

The Problem

On April 6, 2009, an earthquake of 6.3 Richter scale struck at 3:32 a.m. (local time) the municipality of l’Aquila and other 56 municipalities in Central Italy, killing over 300 residents and destroying thousand of building.
More than 65.000 citizens were forced immediately out of their damaged/destroyed houses and displaced in 170 temporary shelter camps, 100 hotels all over the Abruzzo Region and private lodgings. In addition more than 45.000 gas supplies were interrupted, and more than 70.000 private/public buildings have been slightly to heavily damaged.
In the first 48 hours more than 5800 units of fire brigade, armed forces and police were operative on the territory to reach 8000 units at the end of April with more than 9000 volunteers.
The only telephone working network became, for private citizens and public institutions, the mobile phone network communication.
According with The Civil Protection Department, the Ministry of Public Administration and Innovation first invited FormezPA to make use of its national contact center Linea Amica (Friendly Line), to provide services the people affected by the earthquake through a freecharge phone number and then a staff of Linea Amica was sent to cooperate with the Operational Center of the Civil Protection Department in l’Aquila.
In a very short time, the initiative Linea Amica Abruzzo (Friendly Line Abruzzo) was built-up, as solution to the problem of creating, in such a crisis situation, a multichannel communications network to re-establish and reconnect a direct line between citizens, enterprises, and public institutions. Linea Amica Abruzzo represented a flexible (time-location-structure) multichannel communication network (call center, mail, sms, front-office, mobile office/counter) used also by the Emergency Coordination Structure to match needs, give and take informations, offer problem solving in dealing with such an emergency situation.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The solution customized for the situation created by l’Aquila earthquake obtained significant achievements in terms of efficiency and practical results. The major recipients were the citizens of the 57 municipalities, the Department of Civil Protection, the Deputy Commissioner. The impact of the initiative can be measured as follows: Awareness was added as to the importance of the use of an efficient communication network between citizens and public institutions during emergency situations; it followed the reactivation of more than 8,000 private gas utilities in less than 3 months for buildings( immediately) declared immediately re-usable by citizens; it helped more than 14,000 people in 10 days compile the census scheme; more than 15,000 people were contacted and assigned the temporary housing ‘CASE’; two operational units were opened - the “Public Relations Office (URP)” and the “Technical Contact Center (CCT)”; (employing) more than 30 people from l’Aquila were employed; free phone mobile contacts setup for l’ Aquila 800155300 situation; more than 45,000 issues registered and( treated ) solved by URP; mobile Public Relation Office (URP) in the 56 municipalities affected by earthquake were reached periodically; more than 100,000 phone calls were received; the design and implementation of a specific software to register data of citizens. Specific software was designed and implemented for citizen data registration.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
The initiative was proposed by FormezPA, Agency of the Ministry of Public Administration and Innovation, and implemented with the support of the Communication Office of the Civil Protection Department, Aquila Municipality, TDI Group SpA, Brains Engeenering srl, Opera SpA and Cittadinanza Attiva.
The stakeholder are all the involved organizations, citizens and enterprises of earthquake affected areas.

(a) Strategies

 Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
 a.      What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
To explain the strategies chosen by Formez PA with the project Linea Amica Abruzzo, it is important to highlight that the Italian system adopted by the Department of Civil Protection did not involve the use of a multichannel communication network able to connect, during an emergency situation, citizens and institutions and so Linea Amica Abruzzo represented a very innovative tool.
Moreover the request to be operative both in l’Aquila and from Rome led the coordinator to adopt the strategy which comprised getting an understanding of the situation, identifying the problems, adopt management organization, customize the most powerful and efficient operative tools available with LAA, and propose new procedures.
In time, this strategy built up the communication system as well as a range of uses and made LAA an efficient support with a network reaching many public offices, institutional and military structures, operating both during the emergency and during the reconstruction of l’Aquila and other municipalities.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
The key development step of the initiative was the construction of the specialized network of the communication system of Linea Amica Abruzzo, using the appropriate and customized software platform. This platform connected, and still connect, all the recognized offices/persons in the Istitutions/agencies that were necessary to make a two-way communication between citizens/institutions working properly to give information, send alerts, solve problems.
The LAA communication network system was built up as follows:

April 19, 2009, the announcement of the Linea Amica Contact Center (Rome) national number giving general information to the citizens of earthquake affected areas;
April 20, 2009 the staff was sent to cooperate with the Department of Civil Protection in l’Aquila Operational Center;
From May 2009 supporting operation for the reactivation of gas private supplies;
August 2009 supporting operation to the compilation of census schedule;
September 2009 to April 2010 supporting the assignement of temporary housing;
October 13, 2009 opening of the Public Relations Office (URP)
November 4, 2009 activation of the specific freecharge number 800155300 of Linea Amica Abruzzo only for the citizens of the earthquake areas
September 2010 activation of a mobile Public Relation Office visiting the 56 municipalities affected.
December 2010 opening of the mobile office in Piazza Duomo, l’Aquila

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
The main obstacles encountered were due to the understanding of the use of the communication system proposed by FormezPA with Linea Amica Abruzzo, as a communication platform between structures and citizens was not organized and structured.
The software platform was designed to build-up the necessary network to feed the knowledge base, to solve the main problems, giving the citizens the opportunity to obtain exact information.
In addition, in such a situation, it was absolutely necessary using transparency in citizen relationship to prevent the suspicion of illegality in decision making.

This initiative has required and extraordinary commitment by all people involved in such an emergency.

In order to overcome these difficulties the coordinator of Line Amica Abruzzo identified the key staff and activities in the Civil Protection Communication Structure required to activate the Linea Amica Abruzzo multichannel comunication network immediately.
This same staff was also utilized to clarify to the entire Delegate Commissioner structure in l'Aquila the importance of answering to the need for transparency as requested by the citizens in such situations and inkeeping with legal regulations.
In addition, to enable the staff of the other operative structures working on Linea Amica Abruzzo software platform, an activitiy of constant training has been carried out by FormezPA.

(d) Use of Resources

 d.      What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
Linea Amica Abruzzo was co-funded by the Department of Civil Protection, the Ministry of Public Administration and Innovation and the Delegate Commissioner for Reconstruction. The amount of these financial resources is at the moment of about 2,4 MEUR (April 2009 - August 2011).
Most of the financial resources were and are beeing used for recruiting people living in L’Aquila and in the Municipalities affected by the earthquake.

The cost, per month, of LAA initiative can be estimated as follows:

Human Resources in L’Aquila (37 people URP/CCT/Mobile counter/
Piazza Duomo counter) 70.000 €
Free charge number+ 10 inbound operators in Rome– 6 days a week 20.000 €
Mobile counter 5.000 €
ICT (hardware and software) 5.000 €


All technical and human resources were provided by FormezPA. In particular, the software resources were customized and designed for the specific situation under the guidance and supervision of the Coordinator of Linea Amica Abruzzo in l’Aquila.
FormezPA has always been leading and coordinating the whole project, which is currently being used.

The financial resources were differently mobilized depending on the providing Institution: consistently assigned to FormezPA for the whole structure in l’Aquila and for the specific needs of the Municipalities.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
The initiative Linea Amica Abruzzo is the outcome of the work and expertise of people strongly engaged in supporting the instances of citizens and enterprises of the earthquake affected areas.

The initiative has shown the vital role of communication during the different phases of an emergency and the importance of the presence of an operating structure, recognizable to all, and able to connect ,via software platform, all the institutions, agencies, volunteers, stakeholders that are necessary to build up a complete two-way and multichannel communication network.

This network acts like a self-sustaining organism, that has built up on and learnt through the experience of the working people and the users.

This kind of initiative devised for the specific situation in l’Aquila, represented a very successfull and innovative tool and the increasing operational involvement in-situ, has brought the Civil Protection Department to reproduce the model of the contact center based in l’Aquila on national scale, using the people that have been working in Linea Amica Abruzzo offices and giving the coordination and the organization to the Formez PA, specifically to the coordinator of the initiative LAA.
The positive impact of the action was widely recognized.

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
The initiative has been appreciated by citizens,enterprises and all local Institutions such as the municipalities, especially the Aquila Municipality that suffered the majority of displaced people all over the Abruzzo Region and the most part of its public offices destroyed.
The possibility to be able to indicate to the people, in this extreme situation of discomfort and distress, a sure and reliable multichannel communication network, with offices/mobile counters and staff, has been a concrete support to the decision making process and this, together with the possibility to reach selected people to give/ask specific information/data, contributed to attain the goals set by the Authorities.
A core institution like the Civil Protection Department has greatly appreciated the modus operandi of Linea Amica Abruzzo, and the organization of the software DB that enabled the collection and standardization of the registered data giving specific output. It also added the possibility to send a massive number of sms directly from the pc, which was the only way to reach displaced people.
With such a network communication system, people always found solutions to their issues, as they were sure to receive due consideration and would always be followed and monitored to reach the proper solution.
Linea Amica Abruzzo, after the toughest emergency stages, is today currently being used and has demonstrated how the public administration can represent an example of closeness to the citizens and concrete support.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   Formez PA
Institution Type:   Government Agency  
Contact Person:   Massimo Busino
Title:   Dr.  
Telephone/ Fax:   00393357513515
Institution's / Project's Website:  
E-mail:   mbusino@formez.it  
Address:   Viale Marx 15
Postal Code:   00137
City:   Roma
State/Province:  
Country:   Italy

          Go Back
Print friendly Page