HSD SGER Factors affecting behavioral response to natural warning signs of tsunami: the case study of the December 26, 2004 earthquake.

University Of Hawaii, Honolulu

Investigators

Abstract

Coastal communities at risk from tsunamis are often vulnerable to two tsunami threats with drastically different warning times, linked to distant and local sources. Detection and warning systems such as the Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) buoys detect and report tsunamis, but their utility is greatest for distant tsunamis and at best limited for local tsunamis. Perceptional events such as ground shaking and sea-level changes have served as effective warning signals in historic tsunamis and may provide the first and only alert of local tsunamis (Gonzalez 1999, Dudley 1998, Darienzo in press). Communities thus must be aware of natural signs of tsunamis and possess a capacity to respond to two very different forms of warning (official and natural). No good or systematic data exists for response to natural warning signs, although scant observations of behavior in Papua New Guinea, Japan, and Hawai'i illustrate its complexity. Historic tsunamis illustrate that natural signs can serve as effective warning signals but also show many people intentionally enter tsunami danger zones. This research team will collect short-lived social data from people in affected areas of the Andaman coast, Thailand to understand human behavioral response to the events of December 26, 2004. Data will be obtained with interview questionnaires, modified from similar studies (Gregg et al., 2005, Lachman et al., 1961) to reflect the local culture and language. The research will investigate 1) people's awareness of, and response to, the natural warning signs of the tsunami, as well as warning provided by other people or observations of other people's actions, 2) the factors that determined which responses the respondent chose, 3) the factors that respondents retrospectively believe would have influenced them to act differently and 4) pre- and post-impact preparedness for tsunamis using model measures in Paton (2003). The team will also collect data from visitors who were in the disaster area but who have since repatriated. The researchers involved consist of a multidisciplinary and multicultural research team of physical scientists, psychologists, and graduate students, from Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, and the US. This exploratory research is critical to help build community resilience in coastal communities because even the raw data can be used to frame models of human behavior in all communities at risk. The study will be widely disseminated through scientific publications and the Web and be used to frame effective outreach education programs that are essential to prepare communities to respond to the unique demands of warning messages for both distant and local tsunamis. This research is supported jointly by the Human and Social Dynamics (HSD) priority area, the Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE), and the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) Program.