The collective memory of natural disasters: The case of the Vaia storm

The roles and forms of the collective memory of natural disasters have been little studied, especially from a psychosocial perspective. This qualitative explorative study delves into the case of the Vaia storm which hit the woods of the Italian Alps in October 2018 devastating 41 thousand hectares of forests, trying to illustrate the shapes and functions of the collective memory of this extreme event as well as to open up future possible research pathways. We conducted thirteen in-depth semi-structured interviews with people who experienced the disaster, studied it, or worked in close relation with the wood, that is, people who make up the enunciative community of Vaia. An abductive thematic analysis of transcripts was performed and four themes were identified: 1) the sensory memory of the Vaia storm, 2) the emotions generated by it, 3) the narratives concerning the catastrophe, and 4) the practices of remembering. These four themes can be organized into two interpretative levels: themes 1 and 2 figure out shared features of the memory of Vaia as it happened in October 2018, while themes 3 and 4 express the making and transformation of the memory of the storm over time and through social interaction. The findings are discussed in light of the nonhuman turn in the field of Memory Studies and their intersections with emerging literature on the psychosocial impacts of natural disasters on individuals and communities.