As a glaciated active volcano, Mt. Rainier poses a substantial threat of lahars – dangerous, concrete-like volcanic mudflows – to over 90,000 people in downstream communities. Although monitored for volcanic activity, Lahars are typically associated with eruptions, but Rainier’s unstable west flank means that many in the hazard zone must also contend with a “no-notice” lahar from a sudden, non-eruptive flank collapse. For years, local schools have performed lahar evacuation drills, demonstrating that the most effective way to remove students from the lahar inundation zone is on foot.
However, parents of school-age children have reported an intention to retrieve their children from school during an emergency situation, regardless of evacuation recommendations. Such behavior would exacerbate traffic jams for evacuees and emergency responders and would place parents in the hazard zone precisely as their children are being removed from it. While many scientific studies have discussed lahar hazards, preparatory efforts, and expected behavior in the region, the rationale behind parents’ intentions during school evacuations remain poorly understood. Here we present preliminary findings on factors contributing to parents’ evacuation behavior. With this, local emergency planners may consider solutions to parents’ concerns about their children’s safety and, ideally, increase anticipated evacuation in the area.
What Will the Audience Learn:
During school hours, emergency scenarios that occur with little to no notice (e.g., no-notice lahars, large earthquakes, tsunamis, and active shooter incidents) require school staff to escort children to a safe location and potentially care for them for an extended period of time. Understandably, previous research has shown that parents can be reluctant to allow this, preferring to retrieve their children themselves. After this presentation, the audience should better understand the concerns that parents have in an unexpected emergency. By exploring their concerns, emergency planners can tailor evacuation and reunification plans to address these issues and hopefully increase evacuation rates among parents. While the presented work will highlight risk from volcanic hazards, the results will be relevant to other rapid onset hazards listed above.
Course Level: Beginner
About the Presenter
Jessica Ghent is a 4th-year PhD Candidate at the University of Washington researching volcanic hazards from both physical and social science perspectives. While her earlier graduate work primarily contributed to developing holistic hazard monitoring methods, her final chapter is focused on a community-engaged approach to exploring evacuation behaviors among parents in Mt. Rainier’s lahar hazard zones. Jess received her Bachelors in Geology/Geophysics through the University of Colorado Boulder in 2021 and anticipates completing her doctoral degree in 2026. She intends to pursue a career with an emphasis on volcanic hazards and community-based risk mitigation and is highly interested in the work of the Volcano Disaster Assistance Program.