THE AVI PROJECT - A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL AND ARCHIVE INVENTORY OF LANDSLIDES AND FLOODS IN ITALY

The AVI project was commissioned by the Minister of Civil Protection t o the National Group for Prevention of Hydrogeologic Hazards to comple te an inventory of areas historically affected by landslides and flood s in Italy. More than 300 people, divided into 15 research teams and t wo support groups, worked for one year on the project. Twenty-two jour nals were systematically searched for the period 1918-1990, 350,000 ne wspaper issues were screened, and 39,953 articles were collected. Abou t 150 experts on mass movement and floods were interviewed and 1482 pu blished and unpublished technical and scientific reports were reviewed . The results of the AVI project, in spite of the limitations, represe nt the most comprehensive archiving of mass movement and floods ever p repared in Italy. The type and quality of the information collected an d the methodologies and techniques used to make the inventory are disc ussed. Possible applications and future developments are also presente d.