1 Making Sense of Earthquakes: Public Information Infrastructures and Postdisaster Event Epistemologies

Earthquakes are unique moments of uncertainty where the very ground we walk on ceases to be reliable, and lives, livelihoods, and possessions can be instantly destroyed. Information and communication technologies moderate our experiences after these fraught moments, and can themselves become the objects of intense attention. If an earthquake happened in the San Francisco Bay Area today, many people would expect that the US Geological Survey (USGS) would quickly provide an online map showing the earthquake epicenter, magnitude, and reach. People might hope that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), a unit of the Department of Homeland Security, along with branches of local government, would help those affected, and that government officials would get on Twitter or television to tell people where to go for aid and how to be safe. Those impacted by a quake would want to assure loved ones of their well-being; some people would attempt to do this with a phone call, and many would notify their loved ones via Facebook.