The Importance of Smartphones as Public Earthquake-Information Tools and Tools for the Rapid Engagement with Eyewitnesses: A Case Study of the 2015 Nepal Earthquake Sequence

摘要

This study investigates how people affected by the 2015 Ghorka earthquake sequence in Nepal have adopted and used the Last Quake smartphone application and associated Twitter robot, which offer rapid earthquake information focusing on felt and damaging earthquakes. It is shown that mobile devices played a key role in Nepal by providing access to earthquake information and that the Last Quake smartphone application was rapidly identified and adopted through viral spread after the mainshock. Thumbnail-based questionnaires, which have replaced online macroseismic questionnaires on the smartphone application and on the website for mobile devices, ease language barriers and have proven to be very efficient for collecting testimonies within a few tens of minutes of a felt-earthquake occurrence.