Abstract
Starting the 10th May 2018, a series of earthquakes has hit Mayotte, a French island in the Indian Ocean. Facing a lack of seismic data, scientific information and communication from the authorities, the inhabitants took advantage of social media to develop, on their own, a citizen seismology group, composed of more than 10 000 people. Due to a particular cultural context, this was carried out mainly without the seismologist community. While some citizens did share seismological information (and eventually volcanology information when it was discovered that the earthquakes were caused by a new-born, undersea volcano), the lack of seismologists in the group also lead to the emergence of misinformation and even conspiracy theories. This mistrusting atmosphere had negative consequences for the way various seismological organisations were perceived, including LastQuake, a crowdsourced-based earthquake information app which allows eyewitnesses to share information about earthquakes they felt, combined with seismic data. However, due to the lack of seismic data for these earthquakes, some were not displayed in the app. This lack of information and understanding of how the system functioned led to additional mistrust towards this citizen seismology tool. This paper combines sociological observations with an empirical approach. First, a sociological analysis of this independent citizen science network enables an identification of the reasons for its creation and the pitfalls caused by the absence of collaboration with the scientific community. Then, an empirical case study of the LastQuake system exposes how it has been improved to offer information, while admittedly more incomplete, is nevertheless closer to citizens’ needs. It concludes that citizen seismology requires a stronger collaboration between citizens’ and scientists’ communities in order to be more efficient. It also advocates for scientific communication that takes into account cultural context from the beginning.
Highlights
Within citizen science, seismology holds a special place as earthquakes are a fascinating phenomenon, and a potentially deadly risk
This Mayotte case-study shows that when information is not available to them, citizens will seize or create tools that meet their needs, and that they can do so without seismologists, as was the case for the Facebook group
Research has found that the type of information, the legitimate and trusted actor, as well as the way the public want to receive it will vary depending on risk culture, technology culture, gender roles, age or religion for instance (Tagliacozzo and Magni, 2016; Appleby et al, 2019; Becker et al, 2019)
Summary
Seismology holds a special place as earthquakes are a fascinating phenomenon, and a potentially deadly risk. Due to the length of the seismic crisis and to its initially unexplained cause, the group has taken a more and more scientific direction Some members, those more interested in seismology or in this seismic phenomenon, took the lead and shared information in an understandable way for their fellow citizens. Citizens took the lead on collecting data and reviewing the existing scientific literature which they had access to They started to produce collated forms of knowledge, as one of the members started to list all felt earthquakes declared on the group and compare it to BRGM’s seismic reports. It would make me feel like we’re not forgotten” (Lucile, 36 years old, teacher) This is supported by the fact that the Facebook group was created in order to share experience about felt earthquakes and get a confirmation that had felt it. The video was designed in order to be universally understood by users, using no text or voice over
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