COMMUNICATING HAZARDS AND RISK IN REACTIVE AND PROACTIVE ENVIRONMENTS: EMERGENCY LANDSLIDE RESPONSE AND LANDSLIDE HAZARD MAPPING (Invited Presentation)

At 3:29 a.m. on May 19, 2018 the State Emergency Operations Center contacted the North Carolina Geological Survey (NCGS) for assistance in a landslide event with a possible fatality in a destroyed home. The Polk County Emergency Management Director had requested the help of the NCGS to assess slope stability before the Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) crew entered the damage zone. Experience-based landslide response procedures, and real-time unmanned aerial vehicle imagery provided by the Broad River Fire Department, part of the NC Emergency Management USAR task force, were important in reducing the uncertainty inherent in a rapid hazard assessment. These aids to situational awareness increased confidence levels in coordinating entry procedures, expediting the recovery of the fatality, and conducting a search and damage assessment over the 1km-long damage corridor. Helicopter flights by the N.C. Forest Service provided an overview of the scope and magnitude of the damage to prepare for the landfall of subtropical storm Alberto that tracked over the area during May 29-31, 2018 triggering more landslides.

A measure of success in such a recovery effort is that “no one else got hurt,” but under circumstances that bring into focus society’s failures to avoid loss of life and property in similar tragedies. Communicating short-term risks in the face of a clear and present hazard contrasts with endeavors to explain risks over the long term based on hypothetical future scenarios, conditional probabilities, and large uncertainties. Building support for proactive, loss reduction efforts like landslide hazard mapping requires a variety of efforts on many fronts over the long term. Just as teamwork is essential in emergency responses, building relationships and partnerships within and outside of the scientific community is important in the continual need for public education about geologic hazards. As a state agency, delivering unbiased, objective messages outside of a regulatory environment is important. Equally important is delivering your message in ways that capture the human sides of stories put into historical context to help bridge the gap between science and public awareness.