Tsunami Warning and Preparedness An Assessment of the U.S. Tsunami Program and the Nation's Preparedness Efforts (2011) / Chapter Skim
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3 Education and Preparedness of Individuals, Communities, and Decision Makers
3 Education and Preparedness of Individuals, Communities, and Decision Makers
Pages 73-108
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From page 73... ...
For distant tsunamis, waves will arrive several hours after generation and individuals need to understand where official warnings may come from, how they may receive the warnings, what those warnings might say, and what they need to do in response to those warnings. Although much has been done to educate at-risk individuals, prepare communities, develop and deliver warning messages, and coordinate agency procedures, the committee concludes that these efforts could be more effective with improved coordination, baseline assessments of the target audience, evaluations of effectiveness, transfer of best practices among the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program (NTHMP)
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From page 74... ...
• A TsunamiReady Program that is based on professional and modern emergency man agement standards. • A review of the format, content, and style of tsunami warning center (TWC)
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From page 75... ...
Tsunami education needs to also adequately convey the different tsunami threats and proper responses to each -- local tsunamis that require instantaneous, self-protective action to reach higher ground based on the recognition of natural cues and distant tsunamis that involve orderly evacuations over several hours that are managed by officials and informed by the tsunami warning centers. The NTHMP Mitigation and Education Subcommittee (M&ES)
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From page 76... ...
Smong can be traced to a tsunami in 1907 said to have taken thousands of Simeulue lives and reminders of that event reinforced the story, such as victims' graves, a religious leader's grave untouched by the tsunami, and coral boulders in rice paddies. After any felt earthquake, a family member would mention the smong of 1907 and often concluded with this kind of lesson: "If the ground rumbles and if the sea withdraws soon after, run to the hills before the sea rushes ashore." By contrast on mainland Aceh, where education had suffered from years of military conflict, only a tiny fraction of the population used the giant 2004 earthquake as a tsunami warning.
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From page 77... ...
September had been emergency preparedness month and tsunami education efforts, supported by the TsunamiReady program, included videos of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and school tsunami evacuation practices. Long-term education efforts of the American Samoa Department of Homeland Security, in collaboration with Department of Public Works and National Weather Service Pago Pago, included school evacuation plans and awareness campaigns for agencies, schools, and businesses (Laura Kong, International Tsunami Information Center, written communication)
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From page 78... ...
(7) Sustain education efforts because effective education is an ongoing process.
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From page 79... ...
. Education efforts that dwell only on the uncontrollable aspects of tsunami hazards, specifically event probabilities, do not influence public action.
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From page 80... ...
Education to prepare individuals for far-field tsunamis would emphasize official warnings disseminated by tsunami warning centers and organized evacuations managed by local officials, whereas those for near-field tsunamis would instead emphasize the public's ability to recognize natural cues and take timely protective actions for their own survival. Distinctions between warnings for near- and far-field tsunamis are important to convey to at-risk populations, because the public is often confused by differences between the two and this confusion can create false expectations (Connor, 2005)
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From page 81... ...
The committee concludes that previous knowledge gained through sustained education efforts will likely play a larger role in saving lives from near-field tsunamis than warnings issued by the tsunami warning centers, given the current scientific and technological constraints on issuing warnings fast enough. Regardless of the kind of tsunami, understanding the needs and abilities of at-risk populations is a critical element in developing effective education.
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From page 82... ...
on field tsunami sources, in order to discover whether at-risk individuals are able to recognize natural cues of tsunamis and to take self-protective actions. Consistent, evidence-based approaches from the social and behavioral sciences should be used in the various study areas to allow the NTHMP to compare communities and prioritize future education efforts and resources.
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From page 83... ...
Lacking an existing compilation or national assessment of tsunami education efforts, the committee compiled a list of efforts that demonstrates the breadth of activity across the NTHMP and outside of the program (Appendix E)
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From page 84... ...
For example, tsunami education products have not been evaluated for the level at which they discuss tsunami hazards, the vulnerability of individuals and communities to tsunamis, how at-risk populations can reduce their vulnerability, and how people should act if a tsunami occurs. A national tsunami research plan (Bernard et al., 2007)
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From page 85... ...
The committee concludes that current tsunami education efforts of each NTHMP member are conducted in an ad-hoc, isolated, and often redundant nature and without regard to evidence-based approaches in the social and behavioral sciences on what constitutes effective public risk education and preparedness training. The lack of NTHMP mechanisms
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From page 86... ...
Recommendation: To increase the effectiveness of tsunami education, the NTHMP should do the following: • evelop consistent education efforts among its members using evidence-based D approaches in the social and behavioral sciences. The goal of this education should be to teach at-risk people to correctly interpret natural cues and understand official warnings, to motivate them to appropriately prepare for tsunamis evacuations, and to make that knowledge and motivation a permanent part of the local culture.
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From page 87... ...
Draft TsunamiReady criteria currently being discussed within the NTHMP broaden the emergency management scope of the original criteria and include aspects of mitigation through land-use planning and regulation; promulgation of inundation maps and their use in public education; alert and warning systems to notify the public of potential dangers; training emergency response and management staff in the nature of tsunami impacts and their roles and responsibilities in public notification, response, and recovery; and sustained education on evacuation procedures, routes, and refuge areas. Based on the committee's discussion with representatives from the NOAA Tsunami Program, the TsunamiReady Program, the emergency management community, and a review of the original and new draft standards of the TsunamiReady Program (draft November 2008)
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From page 88... ...
. Both events illustrate the limited effectiveness and challenges of the current TsunamiReady program.
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From page 89... ...
Resources. The TsunamiReady Program objective to encourage tsunami resilience of all coastal communities in our nation is commendable, but the program has access to few resources and little staff time to accomplish this objective.
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From page 90... ...
The NOAA Tsunami Program needs to be more proactive in incorporating social science findings in program deliberations, evaluation, and criteria development. During deliberations about the TsunamiReady Program, the committee compared TsunamiReady to other approaches to improving community preparedness to natural hazards.
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From page 91... ...
Although signage is considered mandatory under TsunamiReady, the use of tsunami signs is inconsistent among NTHMP members, suggesting the need for greater TsunamiReady program accountability and likely creating the incorrect impression that areas without signage are not tsunami hazard zones. Recommendation: The NOAA Tsunami Program should strengthen the TsunamiReady Program by making the following changes: • mplement professional and modern emergency management standards following the I example of EMAP.
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From page 92... ...
DEVELOPING AND DELIVERING EFFECTIVE WARNING MESSAGES Long-term education and community preparedness efforts set the stage for changing the behavior of at-risk individuals and, in the case of near-field tsunamis, may be the only guidance people receive to help them evacuate. However, the likelihood of individuals evacuating tsunami-prone areas is also influenced by the official warning message they receive from the tsunami warning centers and from local and state emergency management agencies.
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From page 93... ...
Because of existing laws, the TWCs, as part of the federal government, cannot order evacuations. Therefore, unless new national policies are implemented, the TWCs are limited to what they can say for recommended next steps and official warning messages will continue to lack specificity with regard to what protective actions need to be taken.
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From page 96... ...
Following these conversations, individual jurisdictions will then make their own decisions regarding whether to evacuate tsunami-prone areas or not. Pre-event tsunami education of local public-safety officers is important because their knowledge of tsunami threats, the vulnerability of local populations, and the time and logistics required to evacuate these populations all play a factor in the evacuation decision making process.
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From page 97... ...
Alternatively, the issuance of a single message after internal consultation between the TWCs could definitively eliminate the potential for confusion from differences in message content. Local officials will receive warning messages from the TWCs typically within five minutes of an event.
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From page 98... ...
Conclusion: Messages from the two tsunami warning centers do not completely follow evidence-based approaches in format, content, and style of effective messages. The generation of two different TWC warning messages to accommodate different areas of responsibility has created confusion among the media and the general public and will likely continue to do so.
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From page 99... ...
To date, the TWCs and the NTHMP have done a great deal to engage with the customers and establish community connections, including the following actions. • The creation of the NTHMP Tsunami Warning Coordination Subcommittee (WCS)
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From page 100... ...
Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System Program, the U.S. TWCs do not have dedicated public affairs officers, and as a result, the important duties of establishing and maintaining relationships with customers are performed as collateral duties by natural scientists.
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From page 101... ...
The NOAA/NWS needs to establish dedicated TWC positions for public affairs officers who have expertise in the social science of risk communication regarding warning-message creation and dissemination, needs assessments, program evaluation, and emergency management. After significant tsunami warnings are issued to U.S.
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From page 102... ...
focuses on tsunami hazard and risk identification, tsunami warning protocols, emergency management and mitiga tion, and public awareness. The PRTTRC is coordinated by the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez as part of the Puerto Rico Tsunami Warning and Mitigation program, which is supported by the Puerto Rico State Emergency Management Agency (Inter national Tsunami Information Center, 2004)
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From page 103... ...
These working groups also provide fora for improving the dissemination of tsunami warning messages and for reviewing new products. Most coastal states have tsunami working groups, but the level of activity varies significantly among the groups.
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From page 104... ...
The certainty of significant business disruption and the potential for injuries or possibly fatalities in a large-scale evacuation exercise preclude the need to stage public exercises. For near-field tsunamis, input from a few emergency managers suggests that voluntary drills that involve the public practicing evacuation behavior are useful in promoting tsunami 0
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From page 105... ...
Nevertheless, the committee identifies some benefits of having individuals, households and neighborhoods practice evacuation behavior. In very small communities that may have less than 30 minutes to evacuate and limited vertical evacuation options, these voluntary drills may be useful in promoting tsunami awareness, providing social cues, and building social networks.
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From page 106... ...
For small communities, the committee concludes that these community-led, voluntary drills may be useful in promoting tsunami awareness, providing social cues, and building social networks, but only in very small communities or villages that may have less than 30 minutes to evacuate and limited vertical evacuation options. Recommendation: To ensure that managed evacuations for far-field tsunamis are effective and that they minimize societal and economic interruptions, the NTHMP should develop guidelines on the design of effective exercises for use by emergency management agencies.
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From page 107... ...
Systematic and organized field surveys specifically aimed at the social impacts were initiated for the first time in response to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami event (Suter et al., 2009)
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From page 108... ...
Conclusion: Tsunami reconnaissance field surveys are crucial to gain understanding of tsunami effects, and the findings directly improve tsunami risk assessment. This knowledge in turn helps reduce the impacts of future tsunamis.
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