The Same But Different: Cross-Country Comparison of National Earthquake Policies and Societal Perspectives of Seismic Risk in Israel and Switzerland

Rapaport, C., Dallo, I., Kligman, Y., Marti, M., Komendantova, N. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2568-6179, & Ashkenazi, I. (2023). The Same But Different: Cross-Country Comparison of National Earthquake Policies and Societal Perspectives of Seismic Risk in Israel and Switzerland. SSRN Electronic Journal 10.2139/ssrn.4535332. (In Press)

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Abstract

National earthquake policies aim to mitigate earthquake risk by minimizing the potential damage to lives, property, and infrastructure and by preparing the population to carry out recommended behaviors when an earthquake is felt or a warning heard. In this research, we compare two earthquake-prone countries, Israel and Switzerland, to examine how citizens react to the national earthquake policies in terms of their perceived risk of earthquakes and their preparedness. We examine four national-level earthquake policy components—risk assessment, mitigation regulation, early warnings system, and risk communication with the public—to analyze the differences between citizens' responses in the two countries to the implementation of these policy components. We find that centralized national-level policy in Israel, which includes regulated building codes, a nationwide early warning system, and national awareness campaigns, does lead to higher levels of reported awareness and preparedness. Similarly, in high-risk cantons in Switzerland, which apply these policies (except for the warning system), citizens were also more prepared than in low-risk cantons. We suggest that earthquake policies should include collaboration with local authorities and the population through a more decentralized and localized approach, which includes drills, training, and information dissemination.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	earthquake preparedness, seismic hazard and risk, cross-country comparison, earthquake mitigation policies, risk communication
Research Programs:	Advancing Systems Analysis (ASA) Advancing Systems Analysis (ASA) > Cooperation and Transformative Governance (CAT)
Depositing User:	Luke Kirwan
Date Deposited:	07 Oct 2024 11:16
Last Modified:	07 Oct 2024 11:16
URI:	https://pure.iiasa.ac.at/20020

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