The effectiveness and adequacy of natural hazard warnings hinges on the availability of data and its transformation into actionable knowledge for the public. Real-time warning communication and emergency response therefore need to be evaluated from a data science perspective. However, there are currently gaps between established data science best practices and their application in supporting natural hazard warnings. This Perspective reviews existing data-driven approaches that underpin real-time warning communication and emergency response, highlighting limitations in hazard and impact forecasts. Four main themes for enhancing warnings are emphasised: (i) applying best-practice principles in visualising hazard forecasts, (ii) data opportunities for more effective impact forecasts, (iii) utilising data for more localised forecasts, and (iv) improving data-driven decision-making using uncertainty. Motivating examples are provided from the extensive flooding experienced in Australia in 2022. This Perspective shows the capacity for improving the efficacy of natural hazard warnings using data science, and the collaborative potential between the data science and natural hazards communities.
@article{arxiv.2311.14678,
title = {Data-driven recommendations for enhancing real-time natural hazard warnings, communication, and response},
author = {Kate R. Saunders and Owen Forbes and Jess K. Hopf and Charlotte R. Patterson and Sarah A. Vollert and Kaitlyn Brown and Raiha Browning and Miguel Canizares and Richard S. Cottrell and Lanxi Li and Catherine J. S. Kim and Tace P. Stewart and Connie Susilawati and Xiang Y. Zhao and Kate J. Helmstedt},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2311.14678},
year = {2023}
}