Tsunami awareness and preparedness in Aotearoa New Zealand: The evolution of community understanding

Dhellemmes, Amandine; Leonard, Graham S.; Johnston, David; Vinnell, Lauren J.; Becker, Julia; Fraser, Stuart; Paton, Douglas

doi:10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102576

Cited by 32 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The review presented in this paper highlights some relevant points related to people's perception of tsunami risk and the way in which this kind of research can be useful for risk management. First, before planning tsunami Second, as we have seen in this review, tsunami risk is not homogeneously perceived even within the same community, as it is affected by different socio-demographic variables such as gender, age, education level, average income and presence of children in the household/family (see Alam, 2016;Wei et al, 2017;Akbar et al, 2020;Buylova et al, 2020;Dhellemmes et al, 2021), as well as hazard proximity and social memory of past events (see Fraser et al, 2016;Arias et al, 2017;Cerase et al, 2019;Cugliari et al, 2021;Cugliari et al, 2022). These variables are directly or indirectly related to social stratification (e.g., owning a house close to the coastline) as well as to particular risk cultures or worldviews co-existing in the same society (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Tsunami risk perception, a state-of-the-art review with a focus in the NEAM region

2022

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Large-scale coastal urban sprawl, development of tourist accommodations and industrial maritime poles have highly increased the tsunami risk to people living and/or traveling along the coasts of our planet. The disastrous tsunamis in the Indian Ocean (2004) and in the Pacific Ocean (2011), as well as a suite of other damaging events worldwide, have encouraged International Institutions, first of all UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, National Governments and Local Communities to implement Tsunami Warning Systems (TWS), to raise awareness on tsunami risk, and to create a multilevel risk governance. In this framework, research on tsunami risk perception plays a key role. The results of these studies should be taken into account in designing risk mitigation programs and tools (such as drills, activities with local communities, emergency plans, etc.). This paper presents a review of such studies, carried out in several countries worldwide through many thousands of interviews performed with different techniques. Most tsunami risk perception studies were carried out in the regions where the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System and the Pacific Ocean one (PTWS) operate. In the NEAMTWS (North-East Atlantic, Mediterranean and connected seas Tsunami Warning Systems) region, only few specific studies were conducted, mostly within the EU-funded ASTARTE project (2013–2017) and more recently in a few extensive surveys on tsunami risk perception conducted in Italy between 2019 and 2021. Although the twenty-three studies analyzed in our review show a strong heterogeneity of methodological approaches and population samples, they allow us to outline some general considerations on tsunami risk as perceived by people in the different regions of the world. With the help of a table, we schematically summarized the emerging strengths, weaknesses and lessons learned in the twenty-three papers, noting an increase in the number of such studies in the last 5 years. The surveys were mostly concentrated in high-risk areas and focused on local residents. Some differences emerged depending on the memory of past tsunamis, education level, and local cultures. This provides useful hints for sound citizen-based tsunami risk reduction actions, including improved risk communication aimed at increasing the resilience of tsunami-prone populations. The need for increasing the assessment of tourists’ tsunami risk perception, and for a more homogeneous survey strategy also emerge from our analysis.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Another element emerging from some of the studies analyzed here is the importance of traditional media, mainly TV, as the main source of information for people (New Zealand, Italy, Romania, Norway), and as one of the preferred ways to receive alert messages (Kurita et al, 2007;Cerase et al, 2019;Dhellemmes et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Tsunami risk perception, a state-of-the-art review with a focus in the NEAM region

2022

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“…Similarly, the Chen et al (2021) survey of two other CSZ communities reported an average preparation time estimate of M =11.9 min. However, it is likely that these preparation time estimates are too optimistic when compared to some New Zealand studies—the Dhellemmes et al (2016) evacuation expectations survey that found 62% of respondents expected to leave within 10 min but the Blake et al (2018) study of response to a subsequent tsunami warning revealed much longer delays.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 90%

Local residents’ immediate responses to the 2018 Indonesia earthquake and tsunami

et al. 2022

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This study analyzes 488 household residents’ responses to the 2018 Indonesia M7.5 earthquake and tsunami. Comparison of this event with past earthquake and tsunami events, such as the 2009 Samoa (M8.1), 2011 Christchurch (M6.3), and 2011 Tohoku (M9.0) events, identifies commonalities and differences among people’s responses to these events. The results show that many Palu respondents failed to recognize strong earthquake ground motion as an environmental cue to a tsunami, but this was partially offset by an informal peer warning network. Most of the warnings only mentioned one of the six recommended message elements—the tsunami hazard. However, this brief message might have been adequate for many people if they could infer the certainty, severity, and immediacy of the threat, and appropriate evacuation modes, routes, and destinations. Unlike two comparison cases, some Palu respondents actually began their evacuation later than they expected the tsunami to strike. This might be due to spending too much time milling (seeking additional information, relaying warnings, reuniting families, and preparing to evacuate)—given the tsunami’s extremely rapid onset. This finding underscores the need for coastal emergency managers to promote evacuation preparedness for near-field tsunamis in which households pack Grab and Go kits in advance, warn others while evacuating, and plan in advance where to reunite household members who must evacuate separately.

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“…Although tsunami risk perception is influenced by several factors individually, socially and cultural context-related, different studies show that the most influential socio-demographic characteristics are age, educational degree, gender, and residence proximity from the coast (distance from the sea). Other variables affecting tsunami risk perception are household size and property ownership (the higher the value exposed in terms of lives and property, the higher the tsunami risk perception) participation in tsunami awareness programs and specific drills [62,63,64]. Data analysis provided the socio-demographic variables that effectively convey information about the focus of the analysis (see par.…”

Section: Socio-demographic Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…People with a higher educational qualification are more likely to have better knowledge about natural hazards in their area and basic knowledge about tsunamis. Such a knowledge, in some situations, may reduce the response time in case of emergencies and fosters appropriate and effective behaviors [78,11,70,79,80,21,71,64,81,22].…”

Section: Proximity Age Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Something Still Remains: Factors Affecting Tsunami Risk Perception on the Coasts Hit by the Reggio Calabria – Messina 1908 Event (Italy)

Cerase¹,

Cugliari²

2023

Preprint

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In the Mediterranean, the probability of tsunamis is lower than in other coastal areas such as the Pacific Ring, where tsunamis are more familiar and memory of past events and anticipatory signals and protective measures is preserved by local culture, along with media and scientific sources, therefore tsunami risk is more likely to be downplayed or neglected. Past research identified socio-demographic and spatial factors that may affect tsunami risk perception. This research is based on a sample of 5842 CATI interviews to investigate whether and how risk perception and risk knowledge were affected by a major event such as the 1908 Reggio Calabria Messina tsunami, by making a comparison between areas hit by that event and unaffected areas, also providing some explanatory hypotheses. Despite differences between Calabria and Sicily, data anyway show higher levels of tsunami risk perception in the area affected by the 1908 event, along with a major role of interpersonal sources, playing a relevant role in information gathering and understanding. Research also suggests the need to better integrate different sources of knowledge to improve people’s understanding as to effectively cope with tsunami risk.

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Tsunami awareness and preparedness in Aotearoa New Zealand: The evolution of community understanding

Cited by 32 publications

References 26 publications

Tsunami risk perception, a state-of-the-art review with a focus in the NEAM region

Tsunami risk perception, a state-of-the-art review with a focus in the NEAM region

Local residents’ immediate responses to the 2018 Indonesia earthquake and tsunami

Something Still Remains: Factors Affecting Tsunami Risk Perception on the Coasts Hit by the Reggio Calabria – Messina 1908 Event (Italy)

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