A conceptual replication of the Psychological Typhoon Eye effect in the aftermath of the Petrinja earthquake in Croatia

The Psychological Typhoon Eye (PTE) effect refers to the observation that those living in the epicenters of natural disasters or public emergencies exhibit lower levels of psychological distress than those living further away. The effect was first described in the aftermath of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake (Li et al., 2009). However, despite its potential relevance for emergency relieve, this phenomenon has received little research attention and requires further replication. Therefore, data was collected following an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 on the Richter scale that occurred in December 2020 in Petrinja, Croatia. The goals of this study were to replicate the PTE effect using the original measures used by Li et al. (2009) and to conceptually replicate the effect using the validated Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales (DASS; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995). The sample consisted of 316 participants living in Croatia at the time of the earthquake. We found no evidence for the PTE effect in our study. Instead, we observed a ripple effect, whereby those in the epicenter showed the most psychological distress. We argue that the ripple effect, rather than the PTE effect, should be seen as the default psychological response pattern to natural disasters and emergencies.