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Geocoding Applications for Social Science to Improve Earthquake Early Warning Systems

Description: 

Geocoding is a spatial analysis technique that uses address information (e.g., street address, intersection, census tract, zip code, etc.) to determine geographical coordinates (latitude and longitude). In recent decades, geocoding has gone beyond its primary use for census and demographic information to novel applications in disaster risk reduction, even to earthquake early warning. The ShakeAlert® earthquake early warning system, operational on the West Coast of the United States, has begun public alert testing in California, Oregon, and Washington. Communication, education, and outreach efforts with the over 50 million diverse people who live in these states has rapidly increased. In tandem, surveys, interviews, and other techniques have aimed to collect data from these individuals to best understand what people know about the system, sources of misconceptions, and how to improve access to alerts for people with disabilities or limited-English proficiency, as examples. Geocoding these data can improve our overall understanding of the system, including whether the areal alerting polygon holds after alert distribution, whether individuals take protective actions such as ‘Drop, Cover, and Hold On’, and the demographics of the communities that the system is reaching or unintentionally missing. Here I demonstrate the usefulness of geocoding techniques to earthquake early warning through its application to two case studies: one on survey responses gathered from tests of the ShakeAlert system in 2019, and the other on how geocoding applies to earthquake video footage used to study individual and group behavior during earthquakes. Geocoding and its application to earthquake early warning systems combines physical and social science data together to build a stronger understanding of how these human-centered systems are working, whether alerting polygons hold during an earthquake, and may have future applications to a more robust understanding of seismic intensity, especially in areas with sparse seismic networks.

Session: Earthquake Early Warning Optimization and Efficacy [Poster]

Type: Poster

Date: 4/20/2023

Presentation Time: 08:00 AM (local time)

Presenting Author: Danielle F. Sumy

Student Presenter: No

Invited Presentation: 

Authors