COMMUNICATING LANDSLIDE HAZARDS TO THE MEDIA, PUBLIC, AND EMERGENCY MANAGERS: LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE RATTLESNAKE HILLS LANDSLIDE, YAKIMA COUNTY, WASHINGTON

In October 2017, a pilot identified fresh cracks on recently burned and unvegetated slopes of Rattlesnake Hills, near Yakima, Washington. The cracks were the initial indicators of a slow-moving landslide that initiated upslope of a rock quarry. Over the proceeding months, consulting and government geologists monitored the slow-moving landslide, working closely with local emergency managers and officials. In December 2017, a member of the public posted on the internet aerial videos of the landslide taken from an unmanned aerial vehicle. With the tragedy of the 2014 SR530 “Oso” landslide in the recent memory of Washingtonians, the aerial videos of the Rattlesnake [Ridge] Hills landslide piqued statewide media curiosity and concern from both the public and elected officials. In early January 2018, Yakima County established an incident command team to plan a coordinated response to a potential rapid and long-runout landslide. To deal with the numerous media requests for information and interviews, a joint information center (JIC) was established and staffed by a geologist and several public information officers. For several weeks in January, regular, live press briefings with the JIC staff occurred with media from local and national media. During the peak of media coverage it was not immediately recognized by JIC staff how the public and media perceived the landslide hazard and the differing messages of the geologist and emergency manager. The primary messaging differences included how the landslide “event” would occur, when it would occur, and the consequences. The emergency manager discussed planning for the worst-case scenario, whereas the geologist discussed the most-likely scenario. This presentation discusses the landslide event, communication and messaging differences, and how to recognize the differences and shares lessons to improve communication during emergency geologic events.