Seismic risk communication over the past 20 years: An overview of European publications

Abstract

The widespread lack of awareness of seismic hazard and the inadequate preparedness to protect people and property explains the high cost of damage caused by earthquakes worldwide to date. Efficient communication is of paramount importance as part of effective risk mitigation strategies. Over the past twenty years, efforts have been pursued at the local, regional, national, and international level to disseminate information on seismic hazard to populations at risk.Focusing on Europe, we analyze the main features of seismic risk communication from 2000 to 2022, and present here an overview of the results obtained based on a scoping review of the scientific literature. Our review was conducted on publications selected from Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases and the information was gathered on the basis of the 5 ‘Ws questions’ (Who, What, When, Where, and Why). Overall, the selected publications document the relatively limited engagement of the scientific community in this risk field compared to other natural disasters. Nevertheless, the growing trend over time of publications dealing with seismic risk communication highlights the effort to attract selected targeted audiences (particularly children), using new contents, methods of implementation, and channels such as social networks and the Internet.