Gender dependent perception of earthqake effects

This paper addresses the question of whether or not the perception of e arthquake effects is gender dependent. The case considered is the South Iceland earthquake sequence of June 2000. This includes two moderate sized sha llow strike-slip earthquakes with high peak ground acceleration in t he epicentral area. After the earthqua kes a survey on earthquake intensities was carried out by the Earthquake Engin eering Research Centre of the University of Iceland . The survey also included questions addressing safety issues, as wel l as demographic information. The data dealt with h erein cover a total of 249 respondents in the epicentral area. In the analysis presented the main emphasis is on the following three questions. Did you manage to seek shelter inside a house during the earthquake? Did you manage to keep your balance? How long did it take for you to recover? The main f inding is that the data indicate a tendency towards gender dependent earthquake perception, which in some cases appe ars to be a statistically significant.