Supernatural and natural seismic framing in a Tibetan Buddhist community

Based on a questionnaire survey conducted in the Yushu area, China, this study shows that for Tibetans, framing an earthquake as a punishment, will, or trial from gods may have similar connotations. Namely, the topology of positive and negative disaster attributions may not be applicable to Tibetans. Furthermore, in Tibetans’ belief systems regarding disaster, supernatural and natural types framing are different, but not opposite. Indeed, this study reveals that earthquake experience shapes Tibetans’ disaster framing. Specifically, vicarious earthquake experience (i.e., the frequency of discussing earthquake-related topics with others in daily life) increases their tendency to offer supernatural attributions, while harmful earthquake experience increases their likelihood to frame earthquakes as natural phenomena. In addition, Tibetan Buddhist religiosity is entwined with fatalism, whereby their greater general fatalism increases believers’ tendency to frame earthquakes as supernatural signs. These findings thus enrich our knowledge of Tibetan Buddhist believers’ disaster framing and have implications for designing culture-oriented disaster risk reduction strategies for communities that are saturated with a heavily Buddhist culture.