What Would You Do if You Received a ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning Right Now? The Strategy for Education, Training and Outreach in the Pacific Northwest

Date: 4/24/2019

Time: 06:00 PM

Room: Fifth Avenue

The West Coast ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning system is coming to the Pacific Northwest. Buildout of the network to an adequate station density, and ability to alert end users are rapidly progressing, and the system will be available for public rollout within the next couple of years. This is excellent news, and the network improvement efforts have been a huge success. Unfortunately, this progress alone does not paint a complete picture of the requirements for this life-saving technology. To illustrate this point, we ask a simple question: how would the public react right now, if they received an alert on their mobile devices, warning them to “Expect shaking soon. Protect yourself now.”? Current public understanding of earthquake protective actions varies significantly between individuals and communities, based on their experience, culture, education, exposure, and a variety of other factors.

Washington State Emergency Management Division and the University of Washington worked with social scientists to develop a more complete understanding of how to implement a successful Earthquake Early Warning System. Information gathering included surveying and interviewing over 150 Emergency Managers, Public safety officials, and technology operators in Washington and Oregon. The results were used to develop a strategy for a fully-realized and successful earthquake early warning system. Success in this system is defined as: an alert being delivered – to both public and technical users – giving enough time for protective actions to be taken, resulting in all end-users taking protective actions, which decrease loss of life, and prevent economic loss. With this definition of success in mind, and stakeholder input, the strategy maps out the path of education, training, and outreach, which must be taken concurrently with station buildout. We share lessons learned through development of this strategy, and detail what has already been accomplished, what still needs to be done, and what you can do to help ensure this system’s success in the Pacific Northwest.

Presenting Author: Brian R. Terbush

Authors