Tsunami hazard perception and knowledge of alert: early findings in five municipalities along the French Mediterranean coastlines

Abstract. Along the French Mediterranean coastlines, most of the studies dealing with tsunamis have focused on hazards, evacuations, or effects of awareness actions, as opposed to hazard perception and knowledge of alert declared locally by the population. To bridge this gap, in this study, data collection yielded 750 responses coming from 150 people living and/or working in the tsunami evacuation zones of five municipalities (e.g., Bandol, Bastia, Cannes, Six-Fours-les-Plages, Sanary-sur-Mer). Early findings confirmed the tendency to underestimate tsunami hazard and a misunderstanding of the alert process. Interestingly, age or location of respondents explained differences between the five surveyed municipalities – more so than gender and residency status. Discrepancies are also observed when we compare the rate of correct answers for similar questions addressed in other areas in the NEAMTWS (North-eastern Atlantic, Mediterranean and connected seas Tsunami Warning System) region, thus confirming local effects. More surprisingly, the respondents who well perceive the tsunami hazard are not those who have a good knowledge of alerts, and the awareness actions do not really impact the tsunami knowledge we evaluated. Also, the results of this study could help local authorities to develop future tsunami awareness actions and to determine more suitable strategies to be applied in the short term at local scales.