Download PDF - COINAtlantic

Documenting situated tsunami risk perception in coastal environmentsNick Hedley, Sonja Aagesen & Chris LonerganSpatial Interface Research Lab, Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, V5A 1S6, Canadahedley@sfu.caAbstractMany coastal communities are at risk from rapid onset inundation events such as tsunamis. This paper discusses aproject called Citizen Risk, which is gathering situated citizen perception data of tsunami risk in coastal communities.Using a constellation of Citizen Risk-enabled mobile devices, we are able to gather location-based citizen directionestimates of nearest safe ground, and direction of nearest evacuation routes. Combining these data with a simpleset of contextual variables, we are starting to reveal the spatial distribution of citizen risk perception across a realcoastal landscape. Building such characterizations of situated risk perception linked to real landscapes from humanperspectives provides an entirely new way to analyze the relationship between landscape topography, first-personsituational awareness, risk communication and evacuation signage in coastal communities.IntroductionMany coastal communities are at risk from rapid onset inundation events such as tsunamis. Providing plannersand citizens with tools that enhance situational awareness, emergency planning and decision-making before andduring evacuation events may mitigate risk and build new forms of resilience in coastal communities.Citizen Risk is a project (and mobile application) which is designed to gather and document collective situatedcitizen perception of tsunami risk in coastal communities. Using a constellation of Citizen Risk-enabled mobile devices,we are able to gather location-based citizen direction estimates of nearest safe ground, and direction of nearestevacuation routes. Combining these data with a simple set of contextual variables, we are starting to reveal the spatialdistribution of citizen risk perception across a real coastal landscape. Building such characterizations of situatedrisk perception linked to real landscapes from human perspectives provides an entirely new way to analyze the relationshipbetween landscape topography, first-person situational awareness, risk communication and evacuationsignage in real communities. We describe fieldwork and data capture, and discuss findings and observations to date.Ucluelet, BC – an example of a rural coastal communityThe District of Ucluelet is a small community on Vancouver Island’s West Coast, British Columbia. Ucluelet sitson a rocky and densely vegetated peninsula of rolling topography. This region of British Columbia’s West Coast isdirectly exposed to potential tsunami hazards propagated by seismic events in the Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ),and from tele-tsunamis in the Pacific Ocean. The interval between a local earthquake in the CSZ and subsequentinundation of coastal communities in British Columbia could be as little as 15 minutes. In such situations, therewould be little or no time to use maps, specialized computer systems or devices that rely on communications networksthat may have been compromised.In October 2011, the District of Ucluelet adopted the 2011 Community Plan. The new plan set the tsunami riskelevation contour at 20 m above sea level. The tsunami inundation risk zone is communicated in two ways in thecommunity. The first method is a large-format wall map of Ucluelet in the community centre which shows areasabove 20 m in green, and areas below 20 m in red. The second method is a network of blue ‘tsunami zone’ signsplaced at locations alongside key roads in the community.Walking or driving around the community, one wonders whether visitors and locals are cognizant of where the 20 mcontour is throughout the community, and where the entering/exiting tsunami zone signs are located. Previous researchsuggests that tsunami education programs that attempt to prepare the public for tsunamis are ineffective (Andersonand Gow, 2004; Haque, 2006), and that there is an urgent need to provide better tsunami education in communitieswith potential for local tsunamis (Dengler, 2005).One wonders whether the key is to build new ‘brainware’ in each citizen through new forms of situated educationlinking abstract analyses to real geographic space (i.e. mitigating risk by pre-emptively enhancing citizens situa-74