Macroseismic practice in Slovenia

In 1986, a project was started concerning the improvement of macroseismic data management in Slovenia. It was decided to establish a network of collaborators all over Slovenia (20 251 km², approx. 2 million inhabitants), dense enough to allow the use of the MSK scale. Since the uniform spatial distribution with desired density of collaborators is hard to achieve, several methods are being used to obtain new collaborators. At present we have approximately 4100 collaborators in our computer supported database.When an earthquake is felt in Slovenia, the seismologist decides to what areas the questionnaires are to be sent. The prospective observers can be chosen by two criteria: density and quality marks. The density mark allows us to choose a number of observers in the same town or village, based mostly on the quality of answers and demographic conditions. The quality mark is computed, combined with the previous marks, and updated every time a completed questionnaire is returned.The average number of shocks for which the questionnaires are being sent is about 25 per year during the normal seismic activity. The average number of questionnaires is approximately 300 per event. The percentage of the returned questionnaires is above 66%. A user-friendly, interactive program has been developed to manage the database with information about collaborators, to select an area, density and quality threshold of inquiry, and to print addresses onto questionnaires.     

Pre-instrumental earthquakes in a low-seismicity region: A reinvestigation of the macroseismic data for the 16 November 1931 events in Central Finland using statistical analysis

The earthquake in Central Finland on 16November 1931 and its aftershock the sameday are investigated. It is the strongestevent known to have occurred in this areaand thus of importance for understandingthe seismicity there. The originalmacroseismic questionnaires werere-examined using statistical analysis andtaking into account the recommendations forintensity assessments according to theEuropean Macroseismic Scale (EMS-92,-98).The data were augmented with contemporarypress reports. Test theory was applied whenpreprocessing the data, and intensityassessment was carried out by means ofcorrespondence analysis. Differentapproaches were applied to determine themacroseismic field and trace theisoseismals. Some of the practical problemsinvolve the treatment of audibleobservations. The macroseismic magnitudeswere estimated at 4.3 (±0.2) for themain shock and 3.7 (±0.2) for itslargest aftershock. Despite the smallmagnitudes, earthquake light sightings werealso reported for the events.     

防洪工程信赖对公众洪灾风险认知的影响——以开封沿黄地区与岳阳洞庭湖区为例

防洪工程作为人类抵御洪灾的首选手段,为人们提供了保障,但人们对其风险认知还存在一定的偏差。本文从公众层面入手,在我国历史上洪灾最严重的两大流域—长江流域和黄河流域,分别选取岳阳沿洞庭湖区和开封沿黄河地区为研究区,调查公众对当地防洪工程的信赖状况和水灾风险认知情况,回收有效样本831份。据此分析影响防洪工程信赖的因素和工程信赖对公众风险认知的影响。研究发现,公众对防洪工程的信赖度较高,区域趋同性明显;公众对工程信赖的程度,因居住地与风险源的距离、性别、年龄和家庭劳动力结构的不同而存在差异;同时,对防洪工程的过于信赖,会降低公众对洪灾的恐惧心理和警惕性,并使得公众产生消极和积极并存的应对灾害的行为倾向。洪灾多发地区应建立大型洪灾、巨灾的风险防范和洪水保险机制,完善我国的再保险制度;政府在高风险区的分区域管理过程中,应以大局为重;构建＂文化自觉＂的科学防灾文化观,正确引导公众认识到工程措施能力的限度,扭转在工程信赖基础上的风险认知偏差。     

Human Response to Extreme Events: a review of three post-tsunami disaster case studies

Investigating survivors' behaviour prior to, during and after a disaster provides emergency management agencies with greater understanding of the complexities which influence public response. This information can then be used to develop better community-based disaster risk-reduction strategies. In this paper, we review three post-tsunami disaster case studies: the Indian Ocean tsunami (IOT) on 26 December 2004, the Java tsunami on 17 July 2006 and the South Pacific tsunami on 29 September 2009. The 2004 IOT and 2006 Java tsunami surveys involved delayed-response post-disaster research using video interviewing. The 2009 South Pacific tsunami entailed rapid-response post-disaster research using questionnaire interviews. We highlight the major outcomes of each case study and, based on these, make recommendations for improving tsunami education programs in Australia. These include educating the public about tsunami risk, natural warning signs of tsunamis and regionally specific behavioural response. To help facilitate improvements to future post-disaster research, discussion on survey-related issues from each case study is provided.     

Macroseismic Surveys in Theory and Practice

Macroseismology is the part of seismology that collects and evaluates non-instrumental data on earthquakes, i.e., effects on people, objects, buildings and nature. The methods that seismologists use for collecting and evaluating the macroseismic data are often based on long (trial-and-error) experience more than on some formal procedure. Until very recently manuals or guidelines on how to do a macroseismic survey were rare and often superficial. After an earthquake is felt in some region, the data are usually collected by means of questionnaires. Field survey is an obligatory tool that complements the questionnaires in the case of a damaging earthquake. An overview of the approaches to deriving the earthquake parameters (epicentre and barycentre, epicentral intensity, magnitude, depth, source parametres) from macroseismic data, as well as a review of some existing practices is given.     

Interviews and Questionnaires as Mixed Methods in Population Geography: TheCase of Lone Fathers in Newcastle,Australia

A mixed method approach was adopted to study the experiences of lonefathers, using a classic triangulation approach of interview and questionnaire data. This study utilised an empirical realist framework of scientific enquiry, with the ‘soft’ individual interview data seen as an adjunct to the ‘hard’ aggregate quantitative methods. A review of this study found that the interviews worked well as a pilot study in a classic mixed methods framework. The questionnaires provided a range of information about thecharacteristics of this group of lone fathers, but it was the interviews which provided astonishing depth on the causes of marital breakdown and post-marital conflict, and on the discourses and other structures which sustain social processes. In this study, the interview techniques could have been used differently, in a different framework of analysis (that of critical rather than empirical realism) without the support of other mixed methods.     

A method for the analysis of macroseismic questionnaires

We attempt to put right an algorithm for the objective evaluation of seismic intensities by questionnaires. For its investigation, the National Institute of Geophysics in Rome uses, a macroseismic questionnaire composed of 79 quesitons, distributed into 10 degrees of the Mercalli-Cancani-Sieberg (MCS) scale. This algorithm makes use of the weighted mean of the number of given answers concerning each degree. This kind of weighted mean seems to be suitable for avoiding the phenomena of the effects of superimposition.     

Interviews and Questionnaires as Mixed Methods in Population Geography: TheCase of Lone Fathers in Newcastle,Australia

A mixed method approach was adopted to study the experiences of lonefathers, using a classic triangulation approach of interview and questionnaire data. This study utilised an empirical realist framework of scientific enquiry, with the ‘soft’ individual interview data seen as an adjunct to the ‘hard’ aggregate quantitative methods. A review of this study found that the interviews worked well as a pilot study in a classic mixed methods framework. The questionnaires provided a range of information about thecharacteristics of this group of lone fathers, but it was the interviews which provided astonishing depth on the causes of marital breakdown and post-marital conflict, and on the discourses and other structures which sustain social processes. In this study, the interview techniques could have been used differently, in a different framework of analysis (that of critical rather than empirical realism) without the support of other mixed methods.     

甘肃内陆河流域工业企业区位选择和发展的影响因素

问卷调查了酒泉市和嘉峪关市的41家工业企业,收集了大型工业企业的资料,了解影响工业企业选址和发展的主要区位条件。研究表明:韦伯工业区位论强调的成本因素和当地市场是影响内陆河流域工业企业选址和发展的主要区位条件,其中最重要的成本因素是临近原料地和优惠政策;远离大经济中心和经济发达区的相对区位劣势制约大部分企业的发展;虽然只有少部分企业认为水量、水质和水价是企业选址和发展的制约因素,但分析认为,水资源短缺对当地工业发展有不利影响,而受访企业可能没有意识到这些间接影响;相较其他城市,酒泉市企业选址中集聚经济因素的影响小。