ROME (Reuters) -More than a million people in Italy live in areas at high or very high risk of landslides and climate change is likely to lead to more of them, a public research body said on Wednesday, announcing a new AI assistant to help them assess the risk.
Climate change is increasing the frequency of stronger storms, amplifying risks of landslides and floods and spreading them to areas that were historically less exposed, environmental research and protection institute ISPRA said.
The share of land exposed to serious landslide risks rose to 9.5% last year from 8.7% in 2021, it said, with about 2.2% of the population, or about 1.3 million people, living in these areas.
"Italy remains among the European countries most exposed to the risk of landslides," the institute said, mentioning recent deadly natural disasters such as the 2022 landslide on the island of Ischia off Naples and the floods in Emilia-Romagna in 2023.
The new AI assistant would help users navigate the existing IdroGEO public platform of maps and updated data on instability, providing information and answering questions, the institute said.
(Reporting by Alvise Armellini; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
