A review of pre-disaster public awareness activities on public readiness: The 2010 Mentawai tsunami

Abstract

A qualitative study on impact of pre-disaster public awareness activities on public readiness was conducted in the North and South Pagai Islands after the 25 October 2010 Mentawai earthquake. Parameters of readiness are public response to tsunami and the number of casualties. The results show that public awareness activities that commenced from 2004 have effectively increased people's awareness of tsunamis as indicated by their knowledge of tsunami signals. Yet apart from failure of the official warning system to alert the public in remote areas, the response of people to the natural tsunami signals has been made on the basis of misperceptions of strong earthquake signals and tsunami lead-time. Tsunami lead-time of the Pagai Islands had been perceived as long as that of Sumatra or Java Islands and strong earthquakes have been perceived as merely strong ground shaking. These misperceptions came from invalid materials of public education and invalid translation of scientific information, and were confirmed by people's experiences in the 12 September 2007 Bengkulu earthquake. Hence, despite mitigation by relocating houses to the high ground that has saved many lives in Malakopa and Asahan, there is no evidence on the positive relation of pre-disaster awareness intervention with the reduction in loss of lives in the study sites. In order to not give invalid information on tsunami awareness in the future, instead of using a generic formula of regional tsunamis, public education on tsunami should use a specific formula based on local characteristics. Moreover, sensing earthquakes that may trigger tsunamis through the duration of ground shaking may be more effective than that of the strength of ground shaking. Because sensing time duration is difficult, particularly for communities that are not used to using modern timers, it is necessary to develop simple means of sensing time duration.