Seismic risk communication

Their perception of earthquake risk and resulting requirements around building standards influences landlord and developer behaviour.

We want to ensure the seismic resilience of our building stock matches the needs of users.  To do this, we need to understand how seismic risk information is interpreted by organisations that tenant commercial buildings.

This project examined this interpretation and, how it translates into tenant decision-making, including:

1. the requirements tenants stipulate around the seismic performance of the buildings they occupy, and
2. tenants’ decisions to stay or leave buildings deemed seismically vulnerable.

Methodology

We have used interviews, observation and document analysis to explore how commercial tenants receive, interpret and make decisions around seismic risk. This includes talking to those who communicate seismic risk information (owners, property managers, engineers, government agencies) and those who receive it (tenants).

We have also considered existing research evidence about effective risk communication and developed and tested communication approaches that aid tenants in understanding and making decisions around seismic risk.