LastQuake app: a tool for risk reduction that focuses on earthquakes that really matter to the public!

Abstract:

Many seismic events are only picked up by seismometers but the only earthquakes that really interest the public (and the authorities) are those which are felt by the population. It is not a magnitude issue only; even a small magnitude earthquake, if widely felt can create a public desire for information.

In LastQuake, felt events are automatically discriminated through the reactions of the population on the Internet. It uses three different and complementary methods. Twitter Earthquake detection, initially developed by the USGS, detects surges in the number of tweets containing the word “earthquake” in different languages. Flashsourcing, developed by EMSC, detects traffic surges caused by eyewitnesses on its website – one of the top global earthquake information websites. Both detections happen typically within 2 minutes of an event’s occurrence. Finally, an earthquake is also confirmed as being felt when at least 3 independent felt reports (questionnaires) are collected.

LastQuake automatically merges seismic data, direct (crowdsourced) and indirect eyewitnesses’ contributions, damage scenarios and tsunami alerts to provide information on felt earthquakes and their effects in a time ranging from a few tens of seconds to 90 minutes. It is based on visual communication to erase language hurdles, for instance, it crowdsources felt reports through simple cartoons as well as geo-located pics. It was massively adopted in Nepal within hours of the Gorkha earthquake and collected thousands of felt reports and more than 100 informative pics.

LastQuake is also a seismic risk reduction tools thanks to its very rapid information. When such information does not exist, people tend to call emergency services, crowds emerge and rumors spread. In its next release, LastQuake will also have “do/don’t do” cartoons popping up after an earthquake to encourage appropriate behavior.