2025/03/27 by Erick Elejalde, Elejalde, Erick, Timur Naushirvanov +11
Engineering · Social Sciences · #Computers and Society (cs.CY) #Evacuation and Crowd Dynamics #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis #Privacy, Security, and Data Protection #Social and Information Networks (cs.SI)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2503.21497
openalex publication_date 2025/03/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/11 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
This study examines behavioral responses to mobile phone evacuation alerts during the February 2024 wildfires in Valparaíso, Chile. Using anonymized mobile network data from 580,000 devices, we analyze population movement following emergency SMS notifications. Results reveal three key patterns: (1) initial alerts trigger immediate evacuation responses with connectivity dropping by 80% within 1.5 hours, while subsequent messages show diminishing effects; (2) substantial evacuation also occurs in non-warned areas, indicating potential transportation congestion; (3) socioeconomic disparities exist in evacuation timing, with high-income areas evacuating faster and showing less differentiation between warned and non-warned locations. Statistical modeling demonstrates socioeconomic variations in both evacuation decision rates and recovery patterns. These findings inform emergency communication strategies for climate-driven disasters, highlighting the need for targeted alerts, socioeconomically calibrated messaging, and staged evacuation procedures to enhance public safety during crises.