IMPROVING AND GAUGING COMMUNAL AND FAMILIAL RESILIENCE USING A PERSONAL SEISMIC RISK AND READINESS INTERACTIVE MAPPING TOOL

Many Israelis live in areas of significant seismic risk, and yet they tend to be indifferent or reluctant to undertake the minimal preparations to safeguard their family. These people often harbor amorphous notions of the threats associated with earthquakes and tend to depend on unspecified non-local resources and government authorities to care for them. The National Authorities have long realized that in order to improve communal resilience and self-reliance during harsh post-earthquake conditions, they must promote personal and familial preparedness. This is particularly important and challenging in peripheral, remote communities along the Dead Sea Fault and in the Negev.

We present a personalized risk and preparedness evaluator developed to encourage individual and familial involvement in earthquake preparedness. An online application provides personalized risk assessment based on seismic risk maps (Israel Standard 413), user input regarding location, house details and preparation measures taken at the household. Household risk assessment is being calibrated by applying the Delphi method for incorporating experts’ opinion. The personal preparedness data collected provides a basis for innovative mapping of urban readiness patterns (by neighborhood). The online tool identified weakness in personal readiness and it gives immediate personalized feedback (based on Israeli Home Front Command's recommendations deemed most relevant to the specific respondent). The use of a popular interface to social networks will promote comparison between homes among friends, and will attract a broad sector of the public to take part and assess their risk and preparedness. We believe that the interactive tools and social connectivity will increase the public's willingness to actively minimize their community's and personal risk.

Initial application of the tool yielded unprecedented risk and readiness maps, identifying weakness and strength within the neghbourhoods of a small, remote town in Israel. In the coming year the tool will be applied and re-evaluated based on data collected and analyzed from the towns of Mitzpe Ramon, Arad, the Arava and Eilat (altogether ca. 90,000 inhabitants). Furthermore, the methodology will be made suitable for future application in many communities in Israel and around the world.