Education Resource Development and Assessment for ShakeAlert®,the Earthquake Early Warning System for the West Coast of the United States

Abstract:

Over 143 million people live in an earthquake-prone region of the United States. The states of Washington, Oregon, and California face much of this earthquake hazard and risk. A moderate-to-large magnitude earthquake in dense population centers such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle has the potential to cause severe damage which could threaten the national economy and its security. In light of these potential risks, the United States Geological Survey and its partners developed and implemented the Advanced National Seismic Systems’ ShakeAlert®, the earthquake early warning system for the west coast of the United States. However, much of the general public in these three states are insufficiently aware of their earthquake hazard and risk. Nor are they aware of what actions they need to take to protect themselves before, during, and after an earthquake. Due to the lack of general understanding surrounding earthquake hazards, risk, and mitigation, the ShakeAlert® system embeds a communication, education, and outreach program to address these gaps. We found a need to modify existing education resources for broad application, develop new resources, and to test them for effectiveness. Here we present the process to identify and adapt educational activities and animations for the general public and our preliminary assessment tools and findings. Our suite of educational resources aims to present factual information about earthquake hazards and explain why the west coast is earthquake-prone. We also address misconceptions about earthquakes, such as the relationship between an earthquake’s magnitude and its intensity. Finally, we demonstrate through several different short (2-3 minute) animations what to do in the event of an earthquake and how to respond to a ShakeAlert® message. Because our audience includes the general public and formal educational settings, we have formed a collaboration with the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland, Oregon to evaluate and assess the effectiveness of our educational resources and to help build our resources with cultural inclusion in mind.