Two Decades of Seismic Risk Communication in Europe: Where Did We Head To?

Understanding what are the main characteristics of seismic risk communicationpractice and research is essential to depict best practices and gaps that can provideinsights for future improvements. Towards this task, and focussing on the Europeanframework, a scoping review based on the analysis of scholarly literature databases,was conducted. It reveals that, over the last 20 years, seismic risk communication hasbeen a research topic of increasing interest, trying to keep up with current riskcommunication trends and yet mostly under-researched. Recommendations frominternational disaster risk reduction frameworks show up also through the increasinginterest on the communication of seismic risk in Europe. However, it appears to bepracticed in an uneven way in the different European countries and not necessarilylinked to the level of hazard.It mostly occurs in the pre-crisis phase of the disaster lifecycle when risk awarenessand capacity to cope with hazards can be effectively built.An increasingly proactive, with an emphasis on a bottom-up strategy that relies onyouths to build the resilience of future generations is another key issue of thecommunication of seismic risk in the last 2 decades.Social media have had an increasing impact to provide timely and actionableinformation in times of crisis and to engage citizens, in the pre-crisis and post-disasterphase.Our data highlights that the future agenda for the communication of seismic riskshould be set on building trust with the public, tailoring communication to its needs.Actions are even more necessary to curb the spread of fake news and its negativeimpact on disaster management and build the communication practices on atheoretical background