Shaky Decisions: Exploring Human Responses to Earthquake Video Footage on Social Media

Abstract

Earthquakes are unpredictable natural disasters that can cause serious damage, disrupt communities, and threaten safety. This project explores the video-based information college students encounter on social media depicting human behavior in response to major earthquake shaking and their interpretations of what they see and hear in such footage. Through the UO General Survey, our survey asks participants to find three earthquake videos from a social media site of their choice and answer a set of questions regarding their earthquake knowledge and protective action. By probing individuals after watching the videos from their social media algorithms, we are able to identify gaps in their knowledge of correct protective action and what they may remember about earthquakes in general. We are interested in learning more about to what extent previous earthquake experiences and social media exposure of earthquake content affect an individual’s beliefs and attitudes about earthquakes. We hypothesize that people’s knowledge of earthquakes and earthquake safety is limited, and that individuals who have experienced an earthquake will be less likely to judge behavior as the safest possible action. Acknowledging the vast diversity of earthquake education in the United States, the overarching goal of this project is to better understand individuals’ beliefs, knowledge, and attitudes surrounding earthquake risks and safety measures.