Operationalizing Equity: How Disaggregated Risk Metrics Support Equity in Emergency Management

While numerous studies show that natural hazards disproportionately impact socially vulnerable populations, approaches to integrate social equity into emergency management to reduce such vulnerability have been ill‐defined and inconsistent. Considering earthquake disasters, emergency managers often lack information from near‐real‐time seismic loss models, like the United States Geological Survey's Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquake for Response (PAGER), that can support equity‐focused tasks targeted at socially vulnerable populations. While research suggests that disaggregated risk metrics that describe who is exposed, vulnerable, or impacted by an earthquake may support equity‐focused risk management, its usability in response to an earthquake has yet to be assessed. In this study, we examine how disaggregated risk metrics can facilitate emergency managers’ ability to operationalize concepts of equity through a human‐centered design approach. Through an in‐person workshop held in 2023, we investigate how emergency managers ( n = 9 ) use disaggregated risk metrics in response to an earthquake scenario, compared to traditional risk metrics that are available in PAGER. The workshop revealed that highlighting equity through disaggregated risk metrics increased participants’ ability to translate their various definitions of equity in emergency management to concrete tasks that directly address social equity. Additionally, we find that introducing equity within the context of a scenario workshop provides opportunity and platform for participants to discuss and work through concepts of equity. Overall, this research provides evidence that disaggregated risk metrics have the potential to influence decision‐making especially when introduced through detailed exercises with practitioners committed to equity.