01741955

Component

https://doi.org/10.1177/0361198120920873

Earthquakes along the Cascadia subduction zone would generate a local tsunami that could arrive at coastlines within minutes. Few studies provide empirical evidence to understand the potential behaviors of local residents during this emergency. To fill this knowledge gap, this study examines residents’ perceptions and intended evacuation behaviors in response to an earthquake and tsunami, utilizing a survey sent to households in Seaside, OR. The results show that the majority of respondents can correctly identify whether their house is inside or outside a tsunami inundation zone. Older respondents are more likely to identify this correctly regardless of any previous disaster evacuation experience or community tenure. The majority of respondents (69%) say they would evacuate in the event of a tsunami. Factors influencing this choice include age, motor ability, access to transportation, and trust in infrastructure resiliency or traffic conditions. While the City of Seaside actively promotes evacuation by foot, 38% of respondents still state they would use a motor vehicle to evacuate. Females and older respondents are more likely to evacuate by foot. Respondents with both higher confidence in their knowledge of disaster evacuation and higher income are more likely to indicate less time needed to evacuate than others. Generally, respondents are more likely to lead rather than follow during an evacuation, especially respondents who report being more prepared for an evacuation and who have a higher perceived risk. This study showcases a unique effort at empirically analyzing human tsunami evacuation lead or follow choice behavior.

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the National Science Foundation: https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/data-tools.cfm with the permission of the National Science Foundation. Restrictions apply to the availability of these original data, because of human subjects and confidentiality, which were used under license for this study. © National Academy of Sciences: Transportation Research Board 2020.

English

pp 99-114

2020-7

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board

Web

References (37)

Behavior; Choice models; Demographics; Disaster preparedness; Earthquakes; Evacuation; Households; Mode choice; Surveys; Tsunamis

Cascadia Subduction Zone; Seaside (Oregon)

Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Security and Emergencies

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Jun 4 2020 3:04PM