The resilience

In La forza della terra, the impact of the 1976 earthquakes on Friuli has been described, along with the emergency response and the community’s ability to react to the tragedy and destruction caused by the seismic event. The organisation of the reconstruction process, which was almost completely completed over a period of ten to twelve years, is also covered, particularly with regard to private residential buildings. Now is the time to reflect on this extraordinary experience, and the key concept for doing so is ‘resilience’, a term that has become commonplace due to the COVID-19 pandemic but which is actually rooted in a long scientific history.

In engineering, ‘resilience’ refers to the ability of a material to absorb an impact and the speed with which it returns to its original shape. As the term has been adopted by other sciences, however, its meaning has expanded. 'Ecological resilience', for instance, refers to the extent to which an ecosystem can withstand significant disturbances without altering its fundamental state or functions. Therefore, the focus is not on how quickly it returns to normal, but on the degree of change it endures before transitioning to a different state.

The concept of ‘social resilience’ has emerged as a means of describing the capacity of human groups to cope with, adapt to, and recover from social, economic, or environmental disruptions. Just as biodiversity enhances the resilience of ecosystems, it has been observed that diversity within communities also strengthens resilience. Local researchers (including economists, geographers, and urban planners) have begun to consider what ‘territorial resilience’ means in practice. This involves distinguishing between the initial reaction to a shock and the capacity for recovery, reorganisation, or structural adaptation to a new reality, as well as long-term renewal.

In the wake of the global economic crisis of the 2000s and the harrowing experience of the pandemic, the concept of ‘resilience’ has come to be understood not only as the ability to withstand and respond to challenges, but also in terms of its role in guiding the transition towards greater sustainability. Indeed, this interpretation is perhaps most applicable to the case of the earthquake in Friuli in 1976.