ShakeAlert’s Contribution to Social and Behavioral Sciences: A Retrospective
Description:
Since 2019, the U.S. Geological Survey has embarked on a comprehensive social science program to support the operation and communication of ShakeAlert, the earthquake early warning system of the West Coast of the United States. While earthquake early warning started publicly alerting fully on the West Coast of the United States in 2021, questions remain about what people understand and expect from ShakeAlert, including if they know what to do when they receive an alert. To evaluate whether the ShakeAlert System has been successful in increasing public understanding and protection actions when receiving a message from ShakeAlert system, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) developed the Social Science Working Group (SSWG) in 2019. The USGS collaborates with partners from universities, emergency management and other state agencies, the National Science Foundation, and USGS licensed alert distribution partners to implement a social science initiative focusing on three goals. First, to understand earthquake risk perception, protective action knowledge, and basic earthquake preparedness across Washington, Oregon, and California populations. While the research generated from the SSWG is now more than 53 articles, reports, book chapters, and other research publications, we argue that it is important to know how best to apply social science research to inform the ShakeAlert communication, education, outreach, and technical engagement (CEO&TE) programs. This presentation outlines the various publications that have been published or are in draft, future projects, and how social science and educational research has been integrated into the ShakeAlert System to improve the understanding and behavior taking for users of the system.
Session: Adventures in Social Seismology: Ethical Engagement, Earthquake Early Warnings, Operational Forecasts, and Beyond [Poster]
Type: Poster
Date: 4/15/2025
Presentation Time: 08:00 AM (local time)
Presenting Author: Sara
Student Presenter: No
Invited Presentation:
Poster Number: 125
Authors
Sara McBride Presenting Author Corresponding Author skmcbride@usgs.gov U.S. Geological Survey |
Robert deGroot rdegroot@usgs.gov U.S. Geological Survey |
Brian Terbush brian.terbush@mil.wa.gov Washington State Emergency Management Division |
Lauren Vinnell l.vinnell@massey.ac.nz Massey University |
Samantha Stanley samantha.stanley@berkeley.edu University of California, Berkeley |
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ShakeAlert’s Contribution to Social and Behavioral Sciences: A Retrospective
Category
Adventures in Social Seismology: Ethical Engagement, Earthquake Early Warnings, Operational Forecasts, and Beyond