Communicating earthquake risk : societal response to revised probabilities in the Bay Area.

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Cover title

Revised quake probabilities in the Bay Area; Informing the public with a newspaper insert; Studying societal response; The insert reached people; Public reaction; Organizational response; Why actions occurred; Implications for scientists and government officials

After scientists calculated increased probabilities for major earthquakes in the San Francisco Bay Area following the 1989 Loma Prieta quake, a major campaign was undertaken to explain the significance of these increased likelihoods to the public. A multidisciplinary team prepared and distributed a 24-page color newspaper insert across the region that described the science of earthquakes and earthquake forecasting and suggested what people should do to prepare. Communicating earthquake risk describes how and why various sectors of the public responded to the newspaper insert and concludes with recommendations for improving future forecast information