Becker, J.S.; Coomer, M.A.; Potter, S.H.; McBride, S.K. 2017 New Zealand ShakeOut 2012 : a survey evaluation one year on. Lower Hutt, N.Z.: GNS Science. GNS Science report 2016/52 81 p.; doi: 10.21420/G2PS3C
Abstract: New Zealand ShakeOut is a national earthquake drill that was first held on 26 September 2012 at 9:26 am. The New Zealand ShakeOut campaign was based on international ShakeOut drill activities and was organised by the Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management. It focussed on educating New Zealanders about what to do in an earthquake, communicating the ‘Drop, Cover, Hold’ message, and asking people to practice the ‘Drop, Cover, Hold’ action in an official drill. People were asked to sign up to the ShakeOut website to indicate participation in the drill. In addition to the drill, a number of other activities were also promoted, including undertaking preparedness for earthquakes, emergency response planning and exercising. Approximately 1.3 million people from businesses, schools, institutions, community groups and families registered to the New Zealand ShakeOut website and participated in the drill. An initial evaluation of the ShakeOut drill was undertaken immediately following the event in 2012, by asking people to fill in observer forms which reported on what people did before, during and after the exercise (McBride et al., 2013). Initial findings indicated that large proportions of respondents (over 60%) were observed to ‘Drop, Cover and Hold’ in the drill. Schools and workplaces readily participated in the activity. Some respondents had difficulty participating due to embarrassment, health or disability issues. One of the questions regarding the ShakeOut drill is whether participants had a longer-term benefit (such as they continued to ‘Drop, Cover and Hold’ for drills or real earthquakes, or they increased their preparedness for earthquakes). To investigate this question, a follow-up survey was sent to a random sample of 5000 people who had signed up to the ShakeOut website, and who indicated that they could be contacted in the future. This survey was sent out one year after the 2012 ShakeOut drill. Additionally, the survey was promoted via the GeoNet and GNS Science social media accounts (Facebook and Twitter). A total of 1158 people answered the survey, 922 of whom had signed up to the ShakeOut website. This report presents the results of the survey in data table format. The results indicate that the majority of respondents who registered on the ShakeOut website participated in ShakeOut. Respondents had good memory of the need to ‘Drop, Cover and Hold’ if they felt an earthquake inside, but were more uncertain of what to do if they felt an earthquake whilst outside. The ShakeOut drill may have helped develop factors of community resilience and to prompt desirable actions such as creating an emergency plan (approx. 20% of respondents) or gathering together preparedness items (5–20%). Participants of ShakeOut were also found to be more likely to respond correctly during a real earthquake. (auth)
