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Applying Geoscience to Public Safety
Jeff Rubin, Emergency Manager Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue
Tigard, Oregon
Lahars: Preparing for Volcanic Landslides
Why does this matter?
! Life safety ! Critical infrastructure
" Transportation: road, rail, river " Water: Bull Run
! Environmental: Columbia and Deschutes Rivers, forest
! Economic: homes, businesses, access, agriculture
! Social fabric
How can we apply the science?
! Defining hazard and impact ! Identifying population at risk ! Assessing strategies to address risk ! Communicating with public and
decision-makers
(USGS, 2000)
Who’s at risk? (USGS: Mathie &Wood, 2013)
Who’s at risk?
(USGS: Mathie &Wood, 2013)
Mt. Hood lahar property losses
(PSU: Chappell, Dettlaff, Utz, 2009)
Basic risk-reduction strategies (Pierson, Wood, Driedger, 2014)
Communicating the science
! Essential for informed decision-making, community buy-in " Land use " Hazard education " Warning
! Difficult to grasp low-frequency, high-impact events " We tend to focus on what’s right in
front of us
Communicating the science
Scientists
Decision-makers
Communicating the risk
! Technology matters " Mapping " Monitoring " Warning
! More than “just the facts” " What does a warning mean? " Social science: risk perception " Uncommon measures vs. daily routine
