USYS TdLab

Search

Communication in a multi-hazard context

Individual projects

In her dissertation, Irina Dallo examines how earthquake information can be best communicated in a multi-hazard context. There are already various information platforms that inform the population about the current dangerous situation (e.g. thunderstorms, chemical accidents, earthquakes). In addition, users can receive warnings as push messages via appropriate apps. The aim of the study is to determine the needs of the population with regard to such information platforms and to analyse to what extent these platforms benefit the population.

The study is part of the EU project external pageRISE "Real-time earthquake risk reduction for a resilient Europe" and takes place in cooperation with various research institutions in Europe.

About the EU Project RISE

Earthquakes pose a major threat to many countries. They are the natural hazards that cause the greatest number of deaths and financial losses worldwide. The primary objectives of RISE are to develop instruments and measures to reduce future damage and improve Europe's resilience. RISE is a three-year project funded by the Horizon 2020 Programme of the European Commission. RISE is coordinated by ETH Zurich and brings together 19 organisations from across Europe and five international partners.

RISE takes an integrated, holistic approach to risk mitigation, taking into account the different phases of risk management. It uses and adapts new technological possibilities to link earthquake-relevant information and make it available to interested users in a useful form. To this end, earth scientists, engineers, social scientists, computer scientists and experts from other disciplines work together in a multidisciplinary manner in RISE.

Further information on the project can be found at: external pagewww.rise-eu.org.

Insights from the project

Triggered by technical progress that has allowed for the combining of information about natural, anthropogenic and socionatural hazards, numerous multi-hazard platforms have been established over the last years. Despite their increasing use, surprisingly, little research has been conducted evaluating how the public perceives of the hazard information provided by these multi-hazard platforms. Because most of them use maps on the start page, we were especially interested in the different approaches towards presenting multiple hazards and towards compiling the contents of the hazard announcements attached to the maps. With an online conjoint choice experiment (N = 768, fully randomised design), we tested different start page designs and hazard announcements representing the diversity of elements used in multi-hazard platforms. The alternatives were randomly displayed as pairs to the participants (between-subjects design), asking them to first rate the alternatives separately and then to choose which of the two they preferred. Our main results are that the participants prefer a start page consisting of a single map with textual information about the current hazards below the map. In addition, they prefer hazard classifications with four or five hazard categories. Moreover, the participants appreciate the embedding of a sharing function in the hazard announcements. Finally, the participants prefer a combination of textual and pictured behavioural recommendations. To conclude, the results indicate that the design of information provided on multi-hazard platforms indeed affects the public’s preferences. Therefore, in parallel to the continuous improvement of scientific-technical products, the communication and perception of these products should be systematically examined too.

For further information see:

Assessing the public’s information needs and app feature preferences in a participatory process.

In the age of nearly instant information and high-bandwidth communication, public expectations regarding the availability of authoritative short-term and real-time hazard information are evolving rapidly. Despite the existence of numerous apps covering hazard information, little research has been conducted to assess what the public actually expects from such an app. Perceived usefulness is crucial as the public will only use apps offering an added value to them. Several studies have identified that people prefer an app combining relevant hazards instead of single hazard apps. Therefore, we focused our analysis on multi-hazard apps. With seven virtual interactive workshops, we assessed the public’s information needs and app feature preferences. With respect to the content of multi-hazard apps, our results show that participants would mainly combine natural hazards but also have an interest in integrating anthropogenic and socio-natural hazards. To this end, participants advocate sending push notifications for low-probability hazards via general-purpose apps (e.g., weather apps) to reach a larger audience. Despite the desired diversity of hazard information, participants wish for an app focusing on relevant information only and redirecting users to other authorized sources for further information. Participants define the following as relevant information: location, time, hazard severity, behavioral recommendations and the contact details of emergency services. In addition, they wish for the following features: push notifications, a help button, a sharing function, a chat forum, an "I am safe" button, and a "Report an event" button.

For further information see:

Actionable and understandable? Evidence-based recommendations for the design of (multi-)hazard warning messages

Communicating event-related hazard information can help prompt effective public responses and, consequently, reduce injuries and fatalities. Real-time information is commonly communicated to the public through multi-hazard platforms. However, whether these platforms' messages are correctly understood and whether they increase people's intention to take action is yet to be proven. We thus aimed at compiling recommendations on how to develop actionable and understandable (multi-)hazard warning messages. To this end, we designed various multi-hazard overviews and hazard messages, which were refined during the five virtual workshops we conducted with experts (N = 15) from different fields. We then surveyed (N = 601, between-subjects experiment) the Swiss public to check whether our designs increase people's intention to take action and help them correctly interpret the information presented. The design of the hazard overviews, we found, exerted no significant effect on people's intention to take action, probably because the participants showed a generally high interest in seeking further information. In contrast, the hazard overviews with time and action indications significantly increased people's understanding of whether they should take immediate actions. Moreover, adding a time- and action-related icon to the hazard messages significantly increased people's intention to take action. For both hazard overviews and messages, people's intention to take action was found to be proportional to the hazard's severity and urgency and influenced by various personal factors, such as past hazard experiences. To conclude, rendering information on multi-hazard platforms more actionable can prompt public responses and, in turn, increase society's resilience toward disasters.

For further information see:

  • Dallo, I., Stauffacher, M., & Marti, M. (2022). Actionable and understandable? Evidence-based recommendations for the design of (multi-)hazard warning messages. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 74, 102917. doi: external page10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.102917

Understanding the communication of event-related earthquake information in a multi-hazard context to improve society’s resilience

Altogether, my research findings help researchers, practitioners, experts, and other actors in the field of hazard and risk communication develop effective, event-related multi-hazard overviews and specific hazard messages, ensuring that people are able and prompted to take protective actions. The current versions of multi-hazard platforms are widely used and technically well implemented but need to be better tailored to the needs of the public to effectively increase society’s resilience toward disasters. To this end, time- and action-related indications are especially needed in hazard overviews so that people can distinguish at first glance which hazards need immediate actions. The messages linked to these overviews should then provide more detailed information, which can trigger individuals to take the recommended actions. Interactive features such as a report button or an “I am safe” button further allow people to handle emergencies and interact with each other. In sum, the communication of event-related information on multi-hazard platforms, if created appropriately, can prompt effective public responses, consequently increasing society’s resilience toward earthquakes and hazards in general.

For further information see:

  • Dallo, I. (2022). Understanding the communication of event-related earthquake information in a multi-hazard context to improve society’s resilience [Doctoral dissertation]. ETH Zurich.

People from TdLab

Irina Dallo, Michèle Marti, and Michael Stauffacher

JavaScript has been disabled in your browser