HR: 0800h
AN: U51A-0013    [Abstracts]
TI: Social Uptake of Scientific Understanding of Seismic Hazard in Sumatra and Cascadia
AU: * Shannon, R
EM: shannon-r@ulster.ac.uk
AF: University of Ulster, Cromore Road, Coleraine, BT52 1SA, United Kingdom
AU: McCloskey, J
EM: j.mccloskey@ulster.ac.uk
AF: University of Ulster, Cromore Road, Coleraine, BT52 1SA, United Kingdom
AU: Guyer, C
EM: cf.guyer@ulster.ac.uk
AF: University of Ulster, Cromore Road, Coleraine, BT52 1SA, United Kingdom
AU: McDowell, S
EM: sp.mcdowell@ulster.ac.uk
AF: University of Ulster, Cromore Road, Coleraine, BT52 1SA, United Kingdom
AU: Steacy, S
EM: s.steacy@ulster.ac.uk
AF: University of Ulster, Cromore Road, Coleraine, BT52 1SA, United Kingdom
AB: The importance of science within hazard mitigation cannot be underestimated. Robust mitigation polices rely strongly on a sound understanding of the science underlying potential natural disasters and the transference of that knowledge from the scientific community to the general public via governments and policy makers. We aim to investigate how and why the public's knowledge, perceptions, response, adjustments and values towards science have changed throughout two decades of research conducted in areas along and adjacent to the Sumatran and Cascadia subduction zones. We will focus on two countries subject to the same potential hazard, but which encompass starkly contrasting political, economic, social and environmental settings. The transfer of scientific knowledge into the public/ social arena is a complex process, the success of which is reflected in a community's ability to withstand large scale devastating events. Although no one could have foreseen the magnitude of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, the social devastation generated underscored the stark absence of mitigation measures in the nations most heavily affected. It furthermore emphasized the need for the design and implementation of disaster preparedness measures. Survey of existing literature has already established timelines for major events and public policy changes in the case study areas. Clear evidence exists of the link between scientific knowledge and its subsequent translation into public policy, particularly in the Cascadia context. The initiation of the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program following the Cape Mendocino earthquake in 1992 embodies this link. Despite a series of environmental disasters with recorded widespread fatalities dating back to the mid 1900s and a heightened impetus for scientific research into tsunami/ earthquake hazard following the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, the translation of science into the public realm is not widely obvious in the Sumatran context. This research aims to further investigate how the enhanced understanding of earthquake and tsunami hazards is being used to direct hazard mitigation strategies and enables direct comparison with the scientific and public policy developments in Cascadia.
DE: 0468 Natural hazards
DE: 6620 Science policy (0485)
SC: Union [U]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting