The campaign
Italy is a country subject to numerous natural risks, but individual exposure to these risks can be significantly reduced through knowledge of the problem, awareness of the possible consequences, and the adoption of some simple precautions.
I don't take risks is a national communication campaign on good civil protection practices. It is also a purpose, an exhortation to take the issue into consideration, because only through knowledge, awareness and good practices is it possible to say "I don't take risks"
I don't take risks is also the slogan of the campaign, the umbrella under which every risk is explained and explained to citizens together with the good practices to reduce the impact on people and property. In this case, the slogan, which means "battle cry" in Gaelic, is very appropriate: it is the pacific battle that everyone is called upon to wage for the spread of awareness that can help improve our safety.
The most effective way to prevent a risk is knowing it. This kind of knowledge, to be useful indeed, usually involves a level of knowledge that can hardly be communicated through the use of radio or television spots.
Ideally, a citizen should be able to talk to someone who can effectively inform them about everything they need to know about an earthquake, tsunami, or any other risk, possibly by meeting them face-to-face in a square in their town. And this is where the light bulb went on: civil protection volunteers!
Civil protection voluntary associations are present all over Italy. Volunteers live and work on their territory, they know it and are familiar with local institutions and citizens. Who better to inform about the risks on the territory?
Here stems the idea of I don't take risks: to train civil protection volunteers on risk knowledge and communication and then let them go to the streets, in their city, to meet citizens and inform them. An idea conceived and proposed by Anpas and immediately embraced by the Civil Protection Department, Ingv, ReLuis and Cima with the contribution of the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces and Anci-National Association of Italian Municipalities.
Every year in October, hundreds of squares all over the country turn yellow: the weekend of the I don't take risks campaign begins.
Civil protection volunteers set up information gazebos in their city squares to talk about one or more of the risks affecting the territory and illustrate the contents of the campaign's information materials.
It is not a leafleting operation that takes place in the squares. Volunteers do not just drop off information materials to people, but stop and talk to them, illustrate the characteristics of the risks and also explain the risks through specially designed set-ups - the totem pole, the flood tent and the timeline - while remaining available for any questions and clarifications.
It is a real exchange of knowledge and information, a shared path of knowledge to discover the history of the territory and the good practices that every citizen can and should adopt to safeguard against risks.
Throughout the year, during exercises, workshops, events and relevant initiatives at the national or territorial level, "special squares" are also organized to encourage the widest dissemination of the campaign contents and knowledge of natural hazards affecting our country.
The Web is a space of interpersonal interactions that now occupies a significant part of every individual's time, energy and daily attention.
What began in 2020 as a necessity driven by the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic turned out over time to become an opportunity for the development and the enrichment of I don't take risks, which broadened its horizons with the aim of becoming a permanent communication campaign.
The appointment in the real city squares was spontaneously joined by the appointment in the "digital" squares: web spaces created on the most popular social networks, Facebook and Instagram, where civil protection volunteers can meet citizens in the places they usually visit.
Videos, interviews, civil protection pills, cards on good practices, insights on risks, photos of training or informative events: this and much more on the social pages of the Volunteer Organizations participating in the campaign and spreading, even in the digital world, the good practices to adopt to reduce risks.