Communicating earthquake risk: mapped parameters and cartographic representation

Abstract

Abstract. Earthquake risk assessment is probably the most effective tool for reducing adverse earthquake effects and for developing pre-and post-event planning actions. The related risk information (data and results) is of interest for persons with different backgrounds and interests, including scientists, emergency planners, decision makers and other stakeholders. Hence, it is important to ensure that this information is properly transferred to all persons involved in seismic risk, considering the nature of the information and the particular circumstances of the source and of the receiver of the information. Some experience-based recommendations about the parameters and the graphical representations that can be used to portray earthquake risk information to different types of audiences are presented in this work.

Difficulties in explaining complex issues with maps: evaluating seismic hazard communication – the Swiss case

“…Red color schemes are, with some cultural differences, commonly associated with danger, hazard, and risk . In contrast, light colors naturally seem less alarming than dark colors (Gaspar-Escribano and Iturrioz, 2011;Peters et al, 2008).…”

“…However, having too many classes diminishes users' ability to distinguish color values and decreases saturation of a specific class . It is worth testing which intervals are most likely to be understood and categorizing the data into three to five classes (Fuchs et al, 2011;Gaspar-Escribano and Iturrioz, 2011). Alternatively, unclassified maps can be used to depict continuous data.…”

“…When it comes to statistics, it has proven especially challenging to communicate single-event probabilities, conditional probabilities, and relative risks (Gigerenzer and Edwards, 2003).…”

“…Currently, seismic hazard maps are the most commonly used means of visualizing and communicating this danger (see a selection in Fig. 1; Bostrom et al, 2008;Gaspar-Escribano and Iturrioz, 2011;.…”

“…Knowing and understanding seismic hazard is a major step towards loss reduction (Gaspar-Escribano and Iturrioz, 2011;Shaw et al, 2004). An earthquake-resistant building design, based on seismic hazard values (Perry et al, 2016), is the most efficient means of reducing seismic risk and generally implemented by professionals.…”