Communicating Hazard Location through Text-and-Map in Earthquake Early Warnings: A Mixed Methods Study
Abstract
The purpose of this research was to examine the effect of presenting hazard location in different formats on key warning message outcomes—understanding, personalizing, believing, deciding, and milling. We conducted two studies using experiment and focus group methods. In the experiment, we compared a standard ShakeAlert earthquake early warning message, which merely implied location, to three enhanced messages that communicated information about the earthquake epicenter via text, map, or a combined text-and-map format. Focus groups explored reactions to warning messages accompanied by different types of maps. Overall, the standard ShakeAlert message was associated with worse message outcomes compared to messages that explicitly stated the hazard location; communicating hazard location via text was associated with better message outcomes than the map or combined text-and-map format. Although participants preferred the combination text-and-map format, the text format was associated with significantly better message outcomes. Findings revealed that providing specific hazard location information leads to improvements in message outcomes; however, the format in which the information is communicated via text is the best strategy.
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Data Availability Statement
Anonymized data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
This research was funded by the US Geological Survey under Grant Nos. G21AP10009-00 and G21AP10010-00. The authors gratefully acknowledge contributions provided by the US Geological Survey Social Science Working Group in developing message stimuli and in refining data collection instruments.
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Natural Hazards Review
Volume 24 • Issue 4 • November 2023
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© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Aug 7, 2022
Accepted: Apr 3, 2023
Published online: Jul 22, 2023
Published in print: Nov 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Dec 22, 2023
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