Initial behavioral response to a rapid onset disaster: A social psychological study of three California earthquakes

The objective of this dissertation is to examine immediate response behavior in communities impacted by three California earthquakes using survey data collected after each event. The three include the M5.9 Whittier Narrows earthquake of October 1, 1987, the M6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake of October 17, 1989 and the M6.7 Northridge earthquake of January 17, 1994. Among several major behavioral themes addressed in these surveys, this study will focus on three: behavioral response of individuals and small collectivities to the onset of strong ground motion; information seeking following the earthquakes; and, evacuation behavior by those who left their homes after the earthquake. The surveys were all conducted by the UCLA Institute for Social Science Research, Survey Research Center employing standard survey research procedures with random sample selection in the counties most heavily affected by each earthquake.; The three datasets to be analyzed in this study were collected using a survey design that employed telephone interviews of respondents based on random samples drawn from the counties most heavily impacted by the three earthquakes. The questionnaires administered after all three earthquakes are very similar and on some items identical across all three, affording the opportunity for comparative analysis. Data analysis will consist of hypothesis testing using standard statistical tests of significance and multiple regression techniques to construct models using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 11.5 for Windows.; The outcome of the study will contribute to the growing body of social scientific literature on disasters as well as provide a practical basis for guiding public policy. Analysis of these data will contribute to sociological theory and to the growing body of empirical data on the character of human response to rapid onset disasters at the individual, group and community levels of analysis. Insights into immediate behavioral response, information seeking, and evacuation patterns will also provide practical and applicable information that will inform, and possibly improve, organizational response in the areas of public information and training, shelter and mass care, preparedness and hazard mitigation.