Malta
Management and displacement of a unexpected group of residents.
The Maltese archipelago consists of three main islands – Malta, Gozo and Comino, with a total land area of 316 km2 . The main Euro-African plate collision margin passes about 200 km to the north in Sicily and along the Hellenic Arc to the east, while the seismically active Hyblean Malta Escarpment is situated about 100 km to the east.
Despite this scenario, a culture of seismic risk awareness has never really been developed in the country, and the public perception is that the islands are relatively safe, and that any earthquake phenomena are mild and infrequent.
This is probably due to the fact that no loss of life has ever been documented as a direct result of earthquake activity, and the last occurrence of serious damage to buildings was almost a century ago.
As a result, a comprehensive study on the effects of past earthquakes was not developed and hence the compilation of a historical seismic catalogue, as a first step towards a seismic hazard assessment, has never been scientifically undertaken.
While recent constructions of a certain strategic and structural importance are generally cited as having been seismically engineered, the same probably cannot be said of many residential buildings that have mushroomed rapidly in recent years.
Such buildings are for the most part 3-5 storey structures of unreinforced masonry, with heavy concrete flooring/roofing, and often incorporating large open basements acting as garages.
These structures are known to be highly vulnerable to ground shaking, and liable to collapse under even moderate ground shaking. (Galea, 2007, University of Malta, Malta).
The preparedness case for Malta aims
to address three crucial questions:
1
overcoming systemic shortcomings in emergencies;
2
considering the needs of population in emergency preparedness;
3
learning from existing solutions to support a human and culturally sensitive response by all stakeholders.
The preparedness case for Malta aims
to address three crucial questions:
1
overcoming systemic shortcomings in emergencies;
2
considering the needs of population in emergency preparedness;
3
learning from existing solutions to support a human and culturally sensitive response by all stakeholders.
The case will delve into challenges such as language barriers, cultural/historical heritage, and the specific needs of vulnerable groups.
It will focus on examining preparedness in dealing with all the population and addressing language and cultural obstacles for effective communication.
The Validation phase will implement and validate solutions through tabletop exercises, live exercises with local stakeholders and the population, and other activities identified in the Validation Plan.
