Coordinator:
Italian Department of Civil Protection (Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri)
Website: http://www.protezionecivile.gov.it/jcms/en/homepage.wp
The Italian Civil Protection Department (http://www.protezionecivile.gov.it/jcms/en/homepage.wp) is the coordinating beneficiary of the project and is responsible for the design and implementation of BSA capability. The Italian Civil Protection Department is a national public body in charge of emergency management, forecasting, prevention and assistance devoted to protect human lives, goods, settlements and the environment from damages or from the danger of damages deriving from natural calamities, catastrophes and other disastrous events. With the Act n.225 of 24 February 1992, Italy has organized civil protection as a "National Service". As stated under the first article of this act, the Civil Protection National Service consists of central and peripheral State administrations, Regions, Provinces, municipalities, national and territorial public agencies, and any other public and private institution and organization present on the national territory. The President of the Council of Ministers provides for the co-ordination of the National Service and the promotion of civil protection activities through the Civil Protection Department.
The main activities are:
•    promoting and coordinating the Civil Protection National system;
•    intervening directly in case of national disasters;
•    defining intervention and procedures common to the whole system;
•    issuing guidelines aimed to risk prevention;
•    supporting the formation and growth of local authorities and civil protection organizations;
•    disseminating the civil protection culture particularly among young people;
•    developing information networks useful for risk prevention (accelerometric, seismometric, volcanic, hydrological, meteorological and fire monitoring systems);
•    proposing ordinances of the President of Ministers' Council aimed to manage the consequences of relevant natural or man-made disasters;
•    cooperating to the issuing of building codes and seismic zoning.

At European level, the Italian Civil Protection Department is fully engaged in supporting the European Civil Protection Mechanism. The general purpose of the Mechanism is to provide, on request, support in the event of major emergencies and to facilitate improved coordination of assistance intervention provided by the Member States and the Community. Recent years have seen a considerable growth in the number of countries calling upon the Mechanism for civil protection assistance.

Partners:
EUCENTRE Foundation (European Centre for Training and Research in Earthquake Engineering)
Website: http://www.eucentre.it/index.php/index.php?lang=en
The EUCENTRE foundation is a multidisciplinary research infrastructure based in Pavia (Italy), founded by the Italian National Civil Protection, the Italian Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology, the University of Pavia, and the Institute for Advanced Study of Pavia. It is thus a non-profit organisation involved in several research projects for private companies (manufacturers, consultants, software developers, industry) and public institutions (national civil protection, regional administrations, universities). The Centre coordinates also national and international programs of research and education, and has established numerous research programs with institutions from other European and non-European countries.

Italian Department of Fire Brigades, Public Rescue and Civil Defence (Ministero dell'Interno)
Website: http://www.vigilfuoco.it/aspx/Page.aspx?IdPage=5374
The Italian Fire Brigades are a national organization; they are structured over the entire national territory. They have over one hundred main fire stations (one in each province) and about 450 secondary permanent fire stations and more than 200 voluntary fire stations. The main activity consists of rescue services (fire and technical rescue), fire prevention, interventions in major (and minor) accidents (floods, earthquakes, industrial accidents).