Development of a companion questionnaire for “Did You Feel It?”: Assessing response in earthquakes where an earthquake early warning may have been received

Abstract

Earthquake early warning (EEW) systems are relatively new technologies having first emerged as regional systems in the 1990s. Japan was the first nation to develop and implement a nationwide system in October 2007, and in the United States, ShakeAlert® became available on the entire length of the US West Coast in May 2021. Assessing how EEW is perceived and utilized by alert recipients is considered essential. Such assessments are necessary to evaluate whether alert recipients are taking advantage of alert messages to initiate protective actions upon receipt of an alert, how they regard the usefulness of alerts, desirable thresholds for issuing alerts, and other aspects of these systems. Having information from users will also facilitate assessments of the success of earthquake preparedness educational programs such as the ShakeOut and whether annual drills which include information on EEW systems are resulting in behavioral response consistent with the content of these programs. Finally, information on EEW utilization will provide data useful to social scientists who study hazards to advance our understanding of behavioral response to warnings. Survey research in the aftermath of a significant earthquake in which an EEW has been issued is one obvious method of achieving these objectives and there already exist a number of survey instruments for this purpose. A related strategy and the goal of the present research is to develop a brief questionnaire, consistent with those already developed, as a supplement to the United States Geological Survey’s “Did You Feel It?” questionnaire that has provided earthquake intensities and information on behavioral response in earthquakes, both domestic and international, since 2004. Having the intensity level at each respondent’s location is essential for relating their perspectives and actions to the shaking they experienced.

Incorporating Intensity Distance Attenuation Into PLUM Ground‐Motion‐Based Earthquake Early Warning in the United States: The APPLES Configuration

“…Effective communications about EEW in general, including describing the EEW system's capability and alert strategies, describing what to do upon receiving an EEW alert, and rapid communication of the EEW system's alert performance after an event can help manage EEW performance expectations and perceptions of the system (Bostrom et al., 2022; Jenkins et al., 2022; McBride et al., 2020; Minson et al., 2022). Recently, an EEW‐specific questionnaire was added to the USGS DYFI survey, which will allow for concrete analysis of people's perceptions of EEW performance in the future (Goltz et al., 2023).…”

“…Recently, an EEW-specific questionnaire was added to the USGS DYFI survey, which will allow for concrete analysis of people's perceptions of EEW performance in the future (Goltz et al, 2023).…”

Real-Time Seismic Intensity Measurements Prediction for Earthquake Early Warning: A Systematic Literature Review

“…Ten years after Japan validated the importance of EEWSs, the regional EEWS in Taiwan and the KEEWS in South Korea started to issue warnings to the public [7,8]. ShakeAlert in the United States was also launched in 2021 to monitor earthquakes in the US West Coast [9]. EEWSs in countries such as Romania, Turkey and India can provide warnings to some users [10][11][12].…”