Social Science and ShakeAlert

Date: 4/25/2019

Time: 06:00 PM

Room: Grand Ballroom

As the full public rollout of ShakeAlert draws closer, critical questions remain about how people will understand the ShakeAlert, what protective actions they know to take, and what their responses will be when the system behaves differently than they might expect (e.g. false or missed alerts). Additionally, we do not yet know if people understand what the alerts mean or how the system works. Currently, there is some but not much literature about social science and Shakealert: a gap that this project aims to fill.

To evaluate whether the alerting system has been successful in answering these key research questions, the U.S. Geological Survey, in collaboration with its university and state emergency management partners, developed a social science initiative focusing on four goals:

1. Develop understanding of where populations are currently in terms of risk perception, protective action knowledge, and basic earthquake preparedness across Washington, Oregon, and California.

2. Use social science research to inform the communication, education, and outreach (CEO) program for ShakeAlert, outlined in the 2018 -2019 ShakeAlert CEO Plan (2018).

3. Develop and test an adequate alert with sound (tone), haptics (vibrations), words, and images, as well as post-alert messaging.

4. Develop a monitoring and evaluation plan for ShakeAlert.

Projects currently underway include analysis of CCTV footage from the M7.0 Anchorage Earthquake to better understand human behavior during an urban USA-based earthquake, alert message testing, a citizen science Wireless Emergency Alert project, and a perceptions baseline to determine levels of understanding about ShakeAlert. This important work will help us understand what perceptions and human behavior exist currently about ShakeAlert so the public aspects of the systems can be iterated to better suit the needs of our users.

Presenting Author: Sara K. McBride

Authors