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Engage With Your Regional Museums, Parks, and Libraries for Community Resilience

Description: 

Decades of evidence have demonstrated the unique educational impacts of free-choice learning environments (FCLEs), including their effectiveness for earthquake education and confirming their value as partners in end-to-end Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) communication systems. FCLEs include museums, parks, libraries, and other informal educational settings. Cross-disciplinary teams of researchers and educators, organized by USGS ShakeAlert®, have been studying conditions and opportunities to develop an emerging, evidence-based model of FCLE cooperation and mutual learning for the benefit of public EEW end users. This model is being realized through a partnership of Washington, Oregon, and California FCLEs called Earthquake Public Information Centers (EPIcenters).

To build this partnership, EPIcenter leaders, including the authors, have been conducting multi-method research. For example, researchers documented the history, milestones, and recommendations of three previous efforts, an earlier EPIcenter model, the Great ShakeOut, and the work of the associated ShakeAlert Educational Resources Working Group (ERWG). Researchers assessed the potential of FCLEs in Washington, Oregon, and California by documenting the number and type of FCLEs, their location relative to seismic risk, their existing earthquake education activities, and the geographic distance people need to travel to reach those activities. Researchers conducted interviews to learn about the effectiveness of recent collaboration models in the FCLE field. EPIcenter leaders also gathered input from current staff at FCLEs through interviews and questionnaires. This research confirms that FCLEs want to, and can effectively, support emergency response and public education; at the same time, the research confirms that to do so they need the support of their regional scientists, EEW technical partners, and emergency response resources. Therefore, to be effective, the EPIcenter partnership model needs the public to engage with their regional FCLEs so that they can integrate current resources, information, and response expectations into their activities.

Session: End-to-End Advancements in Earthquake Early Warning Systems [Poster Session]

Type: Poster

Date: 5/3/2024

Presentation Time: 08:00 AM (local time)

Presenting Author: Carla

Student Presenter: No

Invited Presentation: 

Authors