Putting people at the centre of tornado warnings: How perception analysis can cut fatalities (original) (raw)

Despite improvements in tornado Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), since the 1990s the number, and proportion, of people dying in tornadoes in America has increased. This paper examines how people rely, understand and trust tornado alerts and the Early Warning Systems (EWS) that disseminate them, if socio-demographics cause specific groups to experience greater risk, whether these factors have affected the rise in fatalities and what mitigation measures could reverse this. Ford County, Kansas, was selected as a case study. Interviews were conducted with officials and an online survey marketed through Facebook was undertaken, receiving 547 responses. Results showed white men were particularly vulnerable to tornadoes as they were more likely to ignore warnings. Hispanics, older people and those with tornado experience were also at higher risk if they heard an alert from an EWS they distrusted or did not understand. Population growth in these groups and technology changes have helped cause the recent fatality rise and, unless changes are made to the EWS, the continued increase in size of these groups will lead to more people becoming at risk from, or perishing in, tornadoes. Recommendations to prevent this include federal regulation and improved education materials for sirens, alerts translated into Spanish, discontinuing NOAA radio and developing an official forecast and alerting app.