Tackling Urban Disaster Risks – Successful Webinar with Experts from Austria and Italy

We were pleased to welcome more than 60 participants to today’s webinar on “Tackling Urban Disaster Risks: Barriers, Data Needs, and Frameworks in a Multi-Hazard Context”, organized by the Disaster Competence Network Austria. The webinar provided inputs from experts from Austria and Italy, and attracted participants from universities, research institutes, civil protection deparments and other organizations involved in cross-border-collaboration from all over Europe and beyond.

As part of the BORIS2 team, Maria Polese and Daria Ottonelli presented the project and the findings of work package 2 – context analysis and needs assessment. Our external speakers, then, provided practical inputs from their everyday work: Tanja Schriebl and Günter Hohenberger from the Office of the State Government of Styria, Austria, talked about the contingency plan for floods for the border (river) Mur and Elena Speranza from the Italian Civil Protection Department presented an overview on emergency planning and Italian civil protection tools.

Curious about the insights presented in the webinar? You can re-watch it here:

Find out more about the speakers of the webinar:

Maria Polese is associate Professor of Structural Engineering at University of Naples Federico II. As member of ReLUIS and CI3R, she is coordinator of BORIS2 and has led the WP3 – Good Practices and Scenarios of the EU Project ROADMAP2. She is also leader of the WP2 “Multi-risk-oriented modeling of urban systems” – of the spoke TS1 “Urban and Metropolitan Settlements” within Extended Partnership RETURN. She is expert in seismic vulnerability, risk/loss estimation methodologies, multi-risk assessment and crisis management policies framework. 

Daria Ottonelli is a researcher in the Department of Risk Assessment and Loss Data at the CIMA Research Foundation. Daria is a Building Engineer and holds a PhD in Structural Engineering from the University of Genoa, where her research focused on assessing seismic performance and evaluating losses in unreinforced masonry buildings. Currently, her research centers on the risk and impact analysis of natural hazards, with a particular emphasis on floods, in both single and multi-risk environments. Her work involves characterizing exposure – including population, buildings, infrastructure, and services – by integrating global datasets with local information to enhance vulnerability assessments.

Tanja Schriebl studied civil engineering and water management at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna, and works at the Office of the State Government of Styria, Austria, at the department for water management. Since 2022, she focuses on international water management, runoff analyses and hazard zone planning as well as water law procedures. She is a member of the Permanent Austrian-Slovenian Commission for the Mur river, and the steering committee of the five-country Mur-Drava-Danube Biosphere Reserve. 

Günter Hohenberger studied at the University of Vienna, and obtained an M.Sc. in risk prevention and disaster management. He works for the Office of the State Government of Styria, at the Department for Civil Protection and Defense where he has been the head of the State Alarm and Warning Center since 2011, which is responsible for all types of crises and disasters in Styria. Before that, he worked in Planning and Response in civil protection. He is a member of the permanent Austrian Crisis Management Commission and also EUCP-trained.

Elena Speranza is an architect of the Italian Civil Protection Department with a specific background on seismic risk, seismic vulnerability and risk prevention issues. She is currently in charge of coordinating a specific unit of the Civil Protection Department for the governance of an extraordinary plan for vulnerability analysis of the Campi Flegrei area, instituted by law (DL 140/2023).