A user experience evaluation of a mobile application for disseminating site-specific impact-based flood warnings: The A4alerts app

People-centred early warning systems must ensure that their warnings are timely, actionable and get to the largest number of exposed individuals in the shortest time possible. Due to the increased access to high-bandwidth communication, mobile applications have become a valuable complement to traditional sources of emergency information. However, there is limited research on how useful end-users perceive these apps and their functionalities in the context of flood emergencies. This research presents the first online user experience evaluation of the A4alerts, a crisis app developed to disseminate the flood warnings triggered by the operational impact-based early warning system in Catalonia, Spain. Following an interactive experiment using the A4alerts app to access emergency information within real-based flood scenarios, participants were prompted to measure their experience using statements linked to criteria on usefulness, functional appropriateness, and adoption. The evaluation results suggest that sampled participants considered the A4alerts a useful communication tool to support end-users and their emergency actions. In particular, the local impact-based flood warnings, regional official warnings and self-protection action checklist were ranked as the most useful functionalities implemented within the app. These findings justify future iterations of the A4alerts for supporting the rapid dissemination of emergency information and helping communities reduce the impacts of flood events.