Seismic risk communication: An opportunity for prevention

Risk communication is a major opportunity to turn scientific knowledge into
preventative actions. In order to understand to what extent and how such opportunity
is caught by the academia and supported by funding programs in Europe, we scanned
recent international projects that had risk communication as a major target. We focussed
on seismic hazard and retrieved a data sample of nine research projects, funded by
major European Programs over the time span 2010-2017. We analysed the following
three parameters: the public rated crucial to foster prevention; the approach used to
reach the public, and the interaction with recipients. According to our results, the
academia rates schools be the most relevant public to implant preventative action that
foster a more resilient society. Face-to-face is chosen as the most efficient approach to
trigger preventative actions. The acknowledgment of recipients’ needs contributes to
better tailor communication campaigns. Our study highlights two major constraints to
the implementation of risk communication campaigns: the assessment of campaigns’
efficacy and the still low relevance that communication has within funding agencies.
Often communication is limited to a publicity task and, when it is set as a major goal,
it can count only on little resources.