82nd Sogo Bosai seminar (Nov, 9)

We are pleased to announce the 82nd Sogo Bosai Seminar (Nov, 9 Thursday) as follows.
We look forward to your participation. This seminar will be held in English.
 
[Date & Time]
Nov, 9 Thursday, 14:00-15:30
 
[Venue* hybrid]
Room 301 (Collaborative Research Hub, DPRI) of Uji campus, Kyoto University and Online
（No.77 building in the map:　https://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/access/uji-campus ）
 
[Registration]
Please kindly register your e-mail address by Nov 7. The Zoom address will be sent to your email address one day before the seminar.
https://forms.gle/VabRuJydZGArehw78
 
[Title]
The Ojai California Earthquake of August 21, 2023: Earthquake Early Warning Performance in the M5.1 Event
 

[Presenter]
Dr. James Goltz, Guest Scholar of Research Center for Disaster Reduction Systems, DPRI, Kyoto University
 

[Abstract]
An earthquake of magnitude 5.1 in California rarely generates more than momentary notice—a headline in local newspapers and a mention with footage on the evening news—then fades into obscurity for most people. But this earthquake which occurred near the city of Ojai is significant for seismologists, social scientists and others who are engaged in implementing and improving earthquake early warning (EEW) technology and in assessing its value in public warnings. In this earthquake, the early warning system for the West Coast of the United States, ShakeAlert operated by the US Geological Survey (USGS), was publicly activated and, for the first time, a substantial number of those who received alerts provided feedback on various aspects the alerts they received. To capture public attitudes regarding this and future alerts and assessments of its usefulness, a supplemental questionnaire was developed and associated with the ‘Did you feel it?’ (DYFI) earthquake reporting system, also operated by the USGS. The DYFI system received over 14,000 felt reports and 2,490 reports by those who received or expected to receive an alert prior to the onset of earthquake motion at their locations. This paper analyzes the aggregate results of these EEW user reports touching on the respondent’s situation upon receiving the alert (location when alert was received, being alone or with others, etc.), characteristics of the alert received (whether it was received before, during or after the shaking began, the number of seconds if received before, the means by which the alert was received and respondent’s assessment of the usefulness of the alert) and, perhaps most important, how the alert recipient responded if received prior to feeling earthquake motion. The new DYFI EEW supplemental questionnaire also inquired about respondent preferences in future alerts. Our report provides a first glimpse of a range of behaviors, attitudes and assessments by users of the recently implemented EEW system for the US West Coast.
 

[Short bio]
James Goltz is a Sociologist and former Director of the Earthquake, Tsunami and Volcanic Hazards Program for California’s Office of Emergency Services. His areas of expertise include human behavior in disaster, earthquake and tsunami warning, tsunami evacuation strategies and the relationship between emergency managers and scientists in responding to natural disasters.

Since 2015 he has served three one-year terms as a Visiting Research Professor at the Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI) of Kyoto University in Japan. In 2022, he was the recipient of the DPRI award for excellence in research and education. He is currently a Guest Scholar at Kyoto University directing a two-year research project funded by the US-Japan Foundation that is studying municipal government response to an earthquake forecasting system for the Nankai Region of Japan.

He served for 6 years as a member of the Advisory Committee for the US National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program and has been a program reviewer for the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program. He received BA and MA degrees from the Ohio State University and a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of California Los Angeles.