Preparedness actions towards seismic risk mitigation for the general public in Martinique, French Lesser Antilles: a mid-term appraisal

Abstract

Martinique is a French island in the Lesser Antilles, with a high seismic hazard. In 2006, Martinican stakeholders involved in seismic safety formed the "Réplik" working group ("Aftershock" in French), the first of its kind in this region. This paper addresses a mid-term appraisal of the first seismic awareness campaign organised by Réplik from 2006 to 2011, and how it has modified, or not, local earthquake and tsunami preparedness. Despite efforts from Réplik to assess its efficiency through surveys, a growing gap is noted between the observed awareness and the actual preparedness of the public. As usual, gender, age, educational level, then boredom and saturation contribute to this discrepancy; strong cultural items may also influence the perception of actions. To remain efficient and respond to the public's expectations, Réplik must redirect its actions towards a cultural congruence of information: consideration of religion and local beliefs, comprehensive messages on TV and radio, use of the Creole language, participatory experiences and drills, and a little science. With this, the Réplik stakeholders can hope to increase Martinicans' involvement into the preparedness process, to cope quickly with a strong earthquake and this know-how can be shared with other seismically active islands in the Caribbean

An intervention to increase earthquake and fire preparedness

“…An online Google Scholar search with the words "natural hazards intervention", "natural disaster preparedness" and "preparedness intervention" of earthquake community preparedness intervention studies yielded a result of nine studies. Four of them were on earthquakes and other natural hazards, such as landslides and/or floods [11,[45][46][47], two focused solely on earthquakes [48,49], one on cyclones [50], and two on disasters in general [51,52]. Studies were conducted in Turkey [11], Martinique [48], Los Angeles, USA [51,52], Australia [50], Iran [45], Pakistan [49], New Zealand [46] and Taiwan [47].…”

An accessibility graph-based model to optimize tsunami evacuation sites and routes in Martinique, France

“…These operational results were presented to a larger audience during the annual week of seismic awareness campaign named "REPLIK" ("Aftershock" in French) on 12 November 2013 (Audru et al, 2013). This presentation was an opportunity to unveil ISO tsunami signage on the first evacuation route optimized by this method.…”

Earthquake preparedness among religious minority groups: the case of the Jewish ultra-Orthodox society in Israel

“…A study on disaster preparedness in Martinique found that though an earthquake awareness campaign succeeded, there was still a gap between the increased awareness and actual level of preparedness. This gap can be explained at least in part by religious factors, such as the dominant fatalism embedded in religious and magical beliefs (Audru et al (2013); compare Azim and Islam (2016) in the context of Saudi Arabia). Moreover, some religious communities have minimal exposure to media, which can increase their vulnerability (Ya'ar et al, 2015).…”

“…Some suggest collaborating with the religiously affiliated community organizations, which often have a strong impact on all areas of life in a religious society (Baytiyeh, 2017;Gianisa and Le De, 2018), and partnering with trusted community leaders (Gil-Rivas and Kilmer, 2016). Similarly, Audru et al (2013) illuminated the need to anchor campaign efforts in local culture and religion, using the local language and knowledge, and by developing educational techniques tailored to the needs of specific groups. Preventative training activities and information campaigns in the education system are some of the most common and effective strategies in disaster risk mitigation (Lucini, 2014;Smawfield, 2013).…”