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Do earthquake survivors want to escape the threats of earthquakes and why?
Abstract
Destructive earthquakes and the possibility of experiencing destructive earthquakes may cause people to move from their area to safer ones. However, despite high earthquake risk, people may not want to leave the area they reside for various reasons. The objective of this study was to investigate whether earthquake experience, earthquake insurance, satisfaction with city, self-efficacy, risk perception, social support, post-earthquake insecurity and price gouging was correlated with relocation willingness in an earthquake-prone area. Data were collected using a survey from 1114 people residing in Kocaeli (Türkiye), where a devastating earthquake occurred in 1999. 610 people who participated in the study were affected by this earthquake and 504 people were not affected. In order to better understand the impact of earthquake exposure on relocation willingness, ordinal logistic regression analyzes were performed separately for the earthquake affected and unaffected sample. The result showed that the relocation willingness of the unaffected participants was higher than the relocation willingness of the affected participants. People who were psychologically affected by the earthquake were more likely to relocate. Satisfaction with the city reduced the participants' relocation willingness mostly. The fear of earthquakes and perceived insecurity after a future earthquake increased all participants' relocation willingness. It is hoped that this study will guide scientists and disaster managers working in regions where destructive disasters may occur to improve strategies related to relocation policy and earthquake risk reduction.
... More specifically, on February 6, 2023, one of the world's deadliest earthquakes, the devastating 7.8-magnitude Kahramanmaraş earthquake in southern Türkiye and northern Syria, resulted in extensive damage, more than 50,000 deaths, more than 120,000 injuries, and affected more than 16 million people (EM-DAT, 2023;UNICEF, 2023). It left roughly 2.5 million children in need of urgent help, bringing physical, psychological, and economic difficulties to the survivors and their families (Ergönül et al., 2023;Özdemir & Mızrak, 2023). As in the cross-sectional studies of Efendi et al. (2023) and Bilge et al. (2023), researchers have shown that the prevalence of psychological distress from the 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquake ranged from 42% to 81% in children and 44% to 68% in adults. ...
This study investigated the relationship between parental psychological wellbeing, parenting, children's psychological difficulties, and prosocial behavior in Kahramanmaraş earthquake‐affected families living in Türkiye in 2023. To this end, a mediation model was proposed for parental psychological distress that was hypothesized to exert an indirect effect on a child's psychological difficulties and prosocial behavior through parenting. Participants were 358 preschoolers between 4 and 6 years old and their one parent (father or mother) who completed a set of validated self‐report surveys in a cross‐sectional design study. Results showed positive associations between parental psychological distress and child's psychological difficulties but negative association with child's prosocial behavior. Furthermore, quality of parenting mediated the association between parental psychological distress and child's psychological difficulties and prosocial behavior. Our findings suggest that positive parenting may serve as a protective mechanism that mediates the association between parental psychological distress and a child's psychological difficulties and prosocial behaviors among families displaced by a natural disaster like an earthquake. These findings point to the need for supporting positive parent–child relationships in addition to decreasing the psychological distress of parents when exposed to potentially traumatizing events like this.
Bu araştırma, 2023 yılı 6 Şubat tarihinde 9 saat arayla meydana gelen 7,7 ve 7,6 büyüklüğündeki Kahramanmaraş depremlerinden en az birini evinde yaşayan bireylerin, mobilya ve iç mekân donatılarının depremler karşısındaki davranış durumlarını tespit etmek amacıyla yapılmıştır. Bu amaç doğrultusunda hazırlanan araştırma anketi, Kahramanmaraş merkez Onikişubat ve Dulkadiroğlu ilçelerindeki okullarda görev yapan öğretmenlere uygulanmıştır. Buna göre; Kahramanmaraş merkezde yaşayan depremzedelerin konutlarında en az hasarın yatak odaları ve çocuk odalarında meydana geldiği ve bu alanların deprem sırasında en güvenli kısımlar olduğu, mutfak, antre ve holün en riskli kısımlar olduğu, parke, PVC esaslı donatılar, sıhhi tesisat elamanlarının deprem davranış performanslarının oldukça yüksek olduğu, ahşap esaslı mobilyaların deprem davranış performanslarının daha zayıf olduğu ve mobilya donatıları için deprem öncesi yeterli tedbirlerin alınmadığı belirlenmiştir. Sonuçta; deprem bölgesindeki katılımcıların depreme karşı önlem düzeylerinin yeterli olmadığı, olası bir sarsıntı veya depremde, mevcut koşullarda yapısal olmayan mobilya ve iç mekân donatılarından kaynaklı tehlikelerin istenmeyen yaralanma, ölüm ve maddi kayıp seviyelerini artıracağı düşünülmektedir.
On June 10, 2022, an earthquake swarm including three major earthquakes with magnitudes of Ms5.8, Ms6.0, and Ms5.2 occurred in Maerkang, Sichuan, China. According to statistics, at least 650 landslides have been triggered by this earthquake, with a total area of 1.2 km2. In this study, the spatial distribution of these landslides and their correlation with seismic, topographic, and geological factors were analyzed based on the coseismic landslide inventory. The results show that landslides are mainly distributed on the northeast side of the Songgang-Fubianhe fault (SG-FBHF), which is a VII intensity area. The closer to the epicenter, the more concentrated the landslide distribution. The landslide density increases significantly with increasing slope. The strata of the Upper Triassic Zhuwo Formation are more prone to coseismic landslide occurrence. Our results, when combined with the focal mechanism solution, precise location of aftershocks, and geological characteristics of the SG-FBHF, suggest that this earthquake is a left-lateral strike-slip earthquake along the SG-FBHF, and the seismogenic fault is slightly tilted to the northeast. In addition, nearly 70% of coseismic landslides are concentrated in the extreme seismic area of ~ 225km2, indicating that the seismic energy release is highly concentrated. This work analyzed the distribution of landslides triggered by a moderately strong earthquake swarm, providing a typical case for researchers to understand the spatial distribution pattern of earthquake-triggered landslides and a scientific support for disaster prevention of coseismic landslides in southwestern Sichuan, China.
The February 2023 earthquakes in Syria and Türkiye The earthquakes that hit southeast Türkiye and northwest Syria in February 2023 have been the most devastating among several earthquakes witnessed globally in the past decades. As of 28 February 2023, it had caused the death of over 50 000 people and affected more than 18 million others. In northwest Syria alone, the earthquakes affected at least 96 communities and 35 sub-districts, damaging or destroying more than 10 000 buildings, including 48 health facilities, and leaving over 11 000 people homeless (4). More than 45 000 deaths and 85 000 injuries have been reported in Harim, Afrin and Jebel Saman districts, and at least 50 000 families displaced in Aleppo, Homs, Hama, and Latakia.
As one of China’s key poverty-reduction initiatives, poverty alleviation relocation (PAR) unavoidably results in the reshaping of neighboring social networks. This study equally focused on the changes in the scope of social interaction and in the intergroup social support of the two primary stakeholders of PAR in a rural–rural relocation context: the migrant and local groups. In 2019 and 2021, two surveys were conducted in four different types of resettlements: centralized, adjacent, enclave, and infill. To provide decision makers with broad references for sustainable PAR planning, the social changes were compared by groups, types, and years. In general, the migrant group had more significant scope expansion or narrowing in social interaction than the local group, and they were more willing to seek intergroup social support. Specifically, the centralized type was the superior choice since it was well-expanded and group-balanced; the adjacent type was also a good choice in the long term because of its rapid improvement in the later phase; the enclave type should be a last resort because of its persistently negative impact; and the infill type was a good option in the short term, as it rarely improved in the later stage. Furthermore, the personal socioeconomic attributes associated with the above social changes, claims laid to the spaces, and economic benefits and limitations were explored for a more comprehensive understanding.
People may have to leave their home, environment, region and country because of disasters or disaster risks. Effective and efficient disaster risk reduction activities involving the community can reduce disaster risks and enable people to reside more safely and peacefully in their environment. The objective of this study was to investigate whether individual characteristics, risk perception, self-efficacy and perceived social support were correlated with the willingness to relocate due to floods and landslides. The data were collected from 947 people residing in Gümüşhane Province (Türkiye) using a survey. In the study, a total of ten models were tested with the help of ordinal logistic regression analysis. Consequently, the participants' willingness to relocate due to landslides was determined to be higher than the willingness to relocate due to floods. University students and people with chronic diseases and flood and landslide experiences had a greater willingness to relocate. Residence duration and informal social support were negatively correlated with relocation willingness. Those who believed that they could protect themselves in the event of a flood and landslide were more likely to relocate. Among risk perceptions, probability increased relocation willingness mostly due to floods, while fear increased relocation willingness mostly due to landslides. This study attempted to provide policy makers and scientists insight into disaster risk reduction and disaster risk communication related to relocation.
The deterioration of the living environment caused by the earthquake is the main migration motivation of residents in the area of the secondary earthquake disaster, and their migration intention is one of the most important factors affecting residents' happiness. This paper uses 957 effective survey samples from 12 secondary geological disaster areas after the Wenchuan earthquake to research the migration intention of residents and its influencing factors. It can be found that 45.2% of residents are willing to migrate, which means they have an instinctive reaction to profit-seeking and harm-avoiding, but it has not become a realistic choice. Investigation facts and research results show that the instinctive response of profit-seeking and harm-avoiding drives residents to make different choices. The migration of residents in areas where secondary geological disasters occur is affected not only by disasters such as debris flow, landslides, and collapse, but also by many factors such as life convenience, family income, expectations for future life, gender, education level, psychological feeling. The improved life and the optimization of the economic conditions brought about by the success of post-disaster reconstruction have made the vast majority of people more confident in the future of the disaster-stricken areas, which made most people choose to stay in those areas. This paper will provide policy suggestions for residents' migration and the reconstruction of the local social governance system in secondary geological disaster areas, which is helpful to improve ecological livability and residents' happiness in the Wenchuan earthquake-stricken area.
California has a high seismic hazard, as many historical and recent earthquakes remind us. To deal with potential future damaging earthquakes, a voluntary insurance system for residential properties is in force in the state. However, the insurance penetration rate is quite low. Bearing this in mind, the aim of this article is to ascertain whether Big Data can provide policymakers and stakeholders with useful information in view of future action plans on earthquake coverage. Therefore, we extracted and analyzed the online search interest in earthquake insurance over time (2004–2021) through Google Trends (GT), a website that explores the popularity of top search queries in Google Search across various regions and languages. We found that (1) the triggering of online searches stems primarily from the occurrence of earthquakes in California and neighboring areas as well as oversea regions, thus suggesting that the interest of users was guided by both direct and vicarious earthquake experiences. However, other natural hazards also come to people’s notice; (2) the length of the higher level of online attention spans from one day to one week, depending on the magnitude of the earthquakes, the place where they occur, the temporal proximity of other natural hazards, and so on; (3) users interested in earthquake insurance are also attentive to knowing the features of the policies, among which are first the price of coverage, and then their worth and practical benefits; (4) online interest in the time span analyzed fits fairly well with the real insurance policy underwritings recorded over the years. Based on the research outcomes, we can propose the establishment of an observatory to monitor the online behavior that is suitable for supporting well-timed and geographically targeted information and communication action plans.
Drawing from protection motivation theory (PMT), we examined how place attachment and negative emotions, alongside threat and coping appraisals, personal experiences, and demographic characteristics, relate to behavioral intentions to mitigate exposure to flood risks in southern Louisiana. We administered a statewide, representative telephone survey to 807 Louisiana residents, oversampling residents living in southern and coastal parishes particularly vulnerable to flood risk. While the results showed no difference depending on participants’ location in the state, there were strong effects of coping appraisals on individuals’ intentions to mitigate their exposure to flood risk, consistent with prior PMT findings. The addition of place attachment to standard PMT variables revealed a nuanced relationship with behavioral intentions. Results show that participants’ place attachment decreased the effects of threat and coping appraisals on some behavioral intentions, such as moving out of the state, while posing no significant effect of threat and coping appraisals on other intentions, such as supporting flood risk mitigation policies. Feeling negative emotions increased the likelihood of participants’ indicating a willingness to move or elevate their home, among other actions. While this study supports the consistency of threat and coping appraisals to predict discrete behavioral intentions, the results also provide insight that may be critical for risk communication initiatives in Louisiana. Namely, individuals with high levels of place attachment may be less willing to leave their community but more willing to engage in behaviors that enhance community resilience, although the more negative emotions they feel, the more willing they may be to take more drastic measures.
residents living in earthquake-threatened areas, choosing suitable risk coping behaviors can effectively reduce the loss of family life and property. However, some residents still choose to continue to live within areas at risk of earthquake disaster. Place attachment may play an important role. Based on place attachment theory and the Protective Action Decision Model (PADM), this study explores the possible relationships among place attachment, efficacy beliefs, and evacuation/relocation intention. Furthermore, it examines the mediating role of efficacy beliefs. The study also used the partial least squares method (PLS-SEM) to test samples of 327 rural households
in Wenchuan and Lushan earthquake-hit areas. The results show that: (1) Place attachment has a significant effect on response efficacy (RE), but not on self-efficacy (SE); (2) Place dependence (PD) has a negative and significant effect on relocation intention (RI) but has no significant effect on evacuation intention (EI). However, place identity (PI) can indirectly affect EI by influencing RE; (3) Efficacy beliefs have a significant positive effect on EI and RI. These results help us understand the complex relationships among place attachment, efficacy beliefs, and residents’ risk coping behavior, thus
providing decision-making references for the formulation and improvement of regional disaster risk management policies.
Worldwide studies show that gender is an important variable affecting disaster risk perception and that women have high levels of disaster risk perception. The objective of this study is to investigate women’s earthquake risk perception as well as the factors that may help predict it. The data of the study were collected from 463 women living in Kocaeli (Turkey) by survey method. The study, which employed ordinary logistic regression analysis, analysed whether the same dependent variable was predicted by different independent variables in five models. Many of the women who participated in the research reported that they were more sensitive to earthquakes. The items with the highest mean among women's affective and cognitive risk perception factors are the items that measure fear and financial perception, respectively. Education and age significantly help predict women’s earthquake risk perception. Living in dread of earthquakes and being depressed and worried for future generations make women feel more sensitive. This study has showed that all the underlying factors affecting women's disaster risk perception should be understood more deeply. It is thought that the results of the study will contribute to studies related to disaster management, risk perception, and women.
Risk perception has been largely examined in studies that have aimed to explain and predict preparedness behavior in the context of natural hazards. Findings from studies on the relationship between previous experience, preparedness, and risk perception in disaster situations have been inconsistent. Hence, the main goal of this work was to explore the influence of physical and emotional experience on risk perception regarding natural hazards. This study was conducted in a statistically representative sample of the city of Iquique, in northern Chile (n = 701), who completed a survey one month after the occurrence of an earthquake and tsunami (8.2 Mw). The survey assessed the experience and preparation actions of survivors in relation to this event.
Using a structural equation model, we examined nine proposed relationships, six of which were significant. The final model had an adequate fit (χ² = 752.23, df = 283, comparative fit index [CFI] = 0.90, root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = 0.049). Direct experience showed the greatest influence on risk perception: while direct physical experience (i.e., the physical and material consequences associated with the earthquake) maintained a direct positive effect on risk perception, direct emotional experience (i.e., the fear of experiencing an earthquake) produced an indirect positive effect (through worry). Emotional experience, however, did not directly influence current preparedness and risk perception. Implications for understanding the relationship between risk perception and direct experience are discussed.
Background:
Earthquakes are one of the most destructive natural disasters in which many people are injured, disabled, or died. Iran has only 1 % of the world's population, but the percentage of its earthquake-related deaths is absolutely higher. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the level of earthquake preparedness of households and its predictors using the Health Belief Model (HBM).
Methods:
This observational descriptive and analytical study was conducted on 933 households in Hamadan province, located in the west of Iran, in 2019. Multi-stage cluster random sampling was used for selecting the participants. The inclusion criteria were being at least 18 years old and being able to answer the questions. A questionnaire was used for data collection including earthquake preparedness, awareness of earthquake response, predictors of earthquake preparedness based on the HBM, and demographic information. Analysis of variance, independent t-test, and a linear regression model was used.
Results:
The mean age of participants was 38.24 ± 12.85 years. The average score of earthquake preparedness was low (approximately 30%). There was a significant relationship between earthquake preparedness and gender (P < 0.001), homeownership (P < 0.001), marriage status (P < 0.001), education (P < 0.001), and previous earthquake experience (P < 0.001). Regarding the HBM constructs, perceived benefits (P < 0.001), cues to action (P < 0.001), and self-efficacy (P < 0.001) were significant predictors of earthquake preparedness.
Conclusions:
Earthquake preparedness was insufficient. Besides, perceived benefits, cues to action, and self-efficacy were predictors of earthquake preparedness. These predictors can be taken into account, for designing and implementing related future interventions.
Trust in stakeholders and social support are essential but neglected factors that shape people's disaster protective behaviours such as mitigation and preparedness. This paper examines the effects of various forms of trust and social support on seismic risk perception and self-reported preparedness in rural China. A household survey (N = 415) of survivors of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake was conducted in 2012. The perceived seismic risk and self-reported preparedness were analysed as dependent variables. Trust in the general public, close relationships, government, and outside helpers were used as various forms of trust. Social support from formal organisations and informal personal networks were included as social support measures, and ordinal logistics and logistic regression models were used for the analysis. The results demonstrate that trust in government and outside helpers are positively associated with perceived risk and adaptation of preparedness actions. Informal social support is negatively correlated with the self-reported preparedness, as well as the perceived likelihood and consequence of the potential earthquakes. The effect of formal support is not significant in predicting disaster risk perception or preparedness. Different forms of trust in stakeholders and social support have different impacts on individuals’ risk perception and preparedness.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how experiencing moderate earthquakes influences risk perception and preparedness.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey was conducted on a nationally representative sample of Korean adults after the moderate earthquake in Pohang in 2017. Statistical analyses were conducted to identify the determinants of willingness to pay (WTP) for seismic retrofitting and earthquake insurance.
Findings
The results show that risk perception, housing ownership, earthquake experience and income level significantly influenced WTP for seismic retrofitting and earthquake insurance. The results also indicate that a greater number of damage-free earthquake experiences reduced the WTP that could be explained by normalcy bias. Finally, people who believed that the Pohang earthquake might be an example of induced seismicity (i.e. triggered by the geothermal power plant) tended to have a lower WTP for seismic retrofitting.
Originality/value
This study offers valuable findings on public attitudes about enhancing earthquake preparedness policies in moderate earthquake zones, regions that few studies have examined despite their high vulnerability due to a lack of preparedness.
Based on survey data from 327 rural households in the areas affected by the Wenchuan Earthquake and Lushan Earthquake in Sichuan Province, this study systematically analyzed disaster risk perception, sense of place, evacuation willingness, and relocation willingness among residents in these earthquake-stricken areas. Further, this study constructed an ordinal logistic regression analysis to probe the correlations between residents' disaster risk perception or sense of place and evacuation willingness and relocation willingness, respectively. The results showed that (1) faced with the threat of earthquake disasters, residents have a strong willingness to evacuate and relocate. Specifically, 93% and 78% of the residents in the Wenchuan Earthquake and Lushan Earthquake areas were willing to evacuate and relocate, respectively, whereas 4% and 17% of the residents were unwilling to evacuate and relocate, respectively. (2) Place dependence and the severity of disaster occurrence were significantly positively correlated with residents' evacuation willingness, while the interaction term between place dependence and the severity of disaster occurrence was negatively related to residents' evacuation willingness. Specifically, when everything else remains constant, every one-unit increase in place dependence and severity corresponds to increases in the odds of willingness to evacuate by factors of 0.042 and 0.051, respectively; every one-unit increase in place dependence × severity corresponds to a decrease in the odds of willingness to evacuation by a factor of 0.004. (3) Place identity was significantly negatively correlated with residents' relocation willingness, while place dependence and severity of disaster occurrence were positively related to residents' relocation willingness. The interaction term between place dependence and the severity of disaster occurrence as well as the interaction term between place identity and severity of disaster occurrence were significantly negatively correlated with residents' relocation willingness. Specifically, every one-unit increase in place identity corresponds to a decrease in the odds of willingness to relocate by a factor of 0.034, while every one-unit increase in place dependence and severity corresponds to increases in the odds of willingness to relocate by factors of 0.041 and 0.028, respectively, and every one-unit increase in place dependence × severity and place identity × severity corresponds to decreases in the odds of willingness to relocate by factors of 0.003 and 0.003, respectively.
This study examined price gouging in the lodging industry using the case of Hurricane Florence made landfall in North Carolina. Performance percentage differences were used to determine whether hotels charge exceptionally high room rates in the wake of an emergency. The study supported the notion of price gouging in the lodging industry in the name of the application of revenue management even though price gauging is illegal and prohibited. Extreme increases in room rates were apparent in Wilmington where the Hurricane Florence made landfall and nearby areas in a response to a higher demand, thus resulting a higher revenue. In addition, the closer to Wilmington the hurricane made landfall, higher price increases were detected. The moderating effect of the month on the relationship between distance from landfall and ADR changes was also observed. However, the term of price gouging is often associated with exploitation, so hoteliers should be mindful whether unpredicted additional revenue generated after the hurricane is enough to offset criticism price gouging receive, especially in its legal terms and ethical considerations.
Objective
To investigate the association between the Tangshan earthquake and depression after 37 years.
Design and setting
A cross-sectional study conducted in Tangshan from 2013 to 2014.
Participants
The sample included 5024 participants born before 28 July 1976 the date of the Tangshan earthquake, with available data on their earthquake experiences and depression 37 years post-earthquake.
Outcomes and variables
The outcome was depression measured using the Center for Epidemiological Study and Depression Scale. The independent variable was earthquake experience, which was classified into three groups: no earthquake experience, earthquake experience without bereavement and earthquake experience with bereavement. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the association between earthquake experience and depression after adjusting for gender, age at the time of the earthquake, smoking status, drinking status, education, income, residence in Tangshan 1 to 2 years post-earthquake, hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidaemia.
Results
Of the 5024 participants, 641 experienced the Tangshan earthquake, and 98 experienced bereavement due to the earthquake. 37 years after the earthquake, survivors who had lost relatives during the earthquake were nearly three times (OR 2.82, 95% CI 1.24 to 6.39) as likely to have depression as those who had not experienced the earthquake, while those who had not lost relatives were 1.69 times as likely (OR 1.69, 95% CI 0.93 to 3.08). Stratified analyses showed that earthquake was significantly associated with depression in women with (OR 3.51, 95% CI 1.21 to 10.16) or without bereavement (OR 3.07, 95% CI 1.44 to 6.56) but not in men; this association was also significant in individuals over 18 years old at the time of the earthquake with (OR 13.16, 95% CI 3.08 to 56.3) or without bereavement (OR 3.39, 95% CI 1.31 to 8.87) but not in individuals less than 18 years old.
Conclusions
37 years after the Tangshan earthquake, earthquake experience was associated with depression among bereaved survivors, women and individuals over 18 years old at the time of the earthquake.
This paper investigates local-scale social vulnerability to flood hazards in Romania, aiming to identify the most vulnerable social and demographic groups across a wide range of geographical locations by considering three dimensions: demographic, socioeconomic, and the built environment. The purpose of the paper is threefold: first, it strives to improve the Social Vulnerability model (SoVI®) by applying a different weighting method adapted to the Romanian context, taking into consideration the municipalities exposed to flood movements. Second, it aims to develop an assessment model for the most vulnerable communities by measuring the heterogeneity according to local indicators related to disaster risks. Third, it aims to facilitate emergency managers to identify community sub-groups that are more susceptible to loss and to increase the resilience of local communities. To perform local-level vulnerability mapping, 28 variables were selected and three aggregated indexes were constructed with the help of the ArcGIS software. Moreover, a model of Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) between communities directly affected by floods and localities with high- and very high values of the Local Social Vulnerability Index (LoSoVI) was used to explore the spatial relationship among them and to compare the appropriateness of Ordinary Least Square (OLS) and GWR for such modelling. The established GWR model has revealed that the negative effects of flood hazards are often associated with communities with a high degree of social vulnerability. Thus, the analysis is able to provide a more comprehensive picture on communities in desperate need of financial resources in order to have the ability to diminish the negative impacts of flood hazards and to provide a more sustainable society.
Purpose
Disasters may impair people’s quality of life (QoL) indirectly through disaster risk perception. We intended to address this point by analyzing the correlation between disaster experience and QoL with a test of the mediating effects of risk perception at the example of earthquake.
Methods
We employed the 2013 Taiwan Social Change Survey data as the data source (N = 1481). Unadjusted ordinal logistic regression models examined the correlation of disaster experience with QoL and earthquake risk perception at first. Another set of ordinal regressions were conducted to explore the mediating effect of earthquake risk perception between earthquake experience and QoL.
Results
Earthquake experience had negative impact on QoL measured by self-reported happiness, general health status, and life satisfaction. People who had earthquake experience perceived higher earthquake risk compared to those who had never experienced an earthquake. Risk perception measured by perceived likelihood of future earthquake as a mediating factor for the impact of earthquake experience on QoL from the dimensions of both self-reported happiness and life satisfaction was confirmed.
Conclusions
Findings are consistent with existing reports about the association between disaster experience and QoL. Research using multi-dimensional measures of disaster risk perception and QoL is needed to inform post-disaster recovery programs.
Motivating household preparedness for earthquakes can be difficult, especially given the infrequent and varying nature of major events. Past research has shown that people's experiences contribute to their beliefs about whether, and how, they should prepare for earthquakes. Direct experience of a disaster can be a strong motivator of preparedness; however, most people will not directly experience a large damaging earthquake in their lifetimes. They instead need to rely on experience of small earthquakes, experience of different disasters, adverse life experiences (e.g. accidents), or vicarious experience. This paper explores the influence of such experiences on earthquake preparedness. The research found that experience has seven different influences on the preparedness process including: prompting thinking and talking; raising awareness and knowledge; helping individuals understand the consequences of a disaster; developing beliefs; developing preparedness; influencing emotions and feelings; and prompting community interaction on disaster issues.
Using the 2017 Pohang earthquake in South Korea as a natural experiment, we examined the responses of the population. By constructing a counterfactual of Pohang using synthetic controls, we found that the earthquake significantly decreased the local population. To investigate the mechanisms of population decrease, we gathered administrative data on the universe of address changes and self-reported reasons for migration. While out-migration due to changes in the residential environment increased significantly, job-related migration showed little change. This out-migration also led to a depreciation in rental housing prices. Our results suggest that local residents perceived the earthquake as a negative amenity.
The aim of this study is to present the field research and performance evaluation of historical masonry mosques and minarets in 11 different cities in the region shortly after the earthquakes that occurred in Kahramanmaraş, Turkey on February 6, 2023. Mosques and minarets were also affected by the earthquakes that occurred in the city of Kahramanmaraş, located in the southwest of the Eastern Anatolia region, at 04:17 and 13:24 local time. Mosques and minarets, two types of structures built using masonry building materials and technologies, have been specially studied. Considering the size of the area affected by the earthquake and the diversity of the cultural heritage in the earthquake region, it will take months to reach all of the culturally important structures affected by the earthquake and report them by experts. The structures presented in the article are relatively easy to access and heavily damaged or completely collapsed immediately after the earthquake. Dome collapses, carrier walls and minaret damages are common in historical mosques. Minaret damage is concentrated on transition sections and spire parts. In the study, a case of Adıyaman Ulu Mosque, which was completely collapsed in the earthquake, is presented in the analysis. It is seen that the collapse mechanisms obtained by dynamic analysis are very similar to the collapse observed in the mosque after the earthquake. It is thought that the absence of any code or directive for these special structures is a major shortcoming and leaves the engineers in a difficult position during the design and protection phase.
Existing studies on disaster-risk management from the humanistic perspective have focused on disaster-risk perception as the starting point and ignored the important role of risk communication in shaping individual risk perception and changing behavioural responses. Taking Sichuan Province―a typical disaster-prone province in China―as an example and selecting rural residents in mountainous areas threatened by multiple disasters as interviewees, this study measured the characteristics of interviewees’ disaster-risk communication in the four dimensions of content preference, channel selection, communication frequency and communication form, and appraised the levels of their disaster-risk perceptions in the four dimensions of possibility, threat, self-efficacy and response efficacy. Additionally, econometric models were used to explore the chain of disaster-risk communication, perceptions and relocation decisions in different scenarios in the context of multiple disasters. The results revealed two main findings. (1) In the scenario where social relations promoted the relocation decision, interviewees derived their relocation decisions by two action paths: disaster-risk communication indirectly influenced relocation decisions through risk perception and disaster-risk communication directly influenced relocation decisions. For the indirect action path, the disaster-risk communication of interviewees had a significant impact on their risk perceptions, and self-efficacy and response efficacy played effective roles in their relocation decisions. For the direct action path, some channels of access to information and indicators of the communication form were significantly correlated with the relocation decision. (2) In the relocation-decision scenario promoted by the government, interviewees derived their relocation decision only by their disaster-risk communication. In risk communication, some channels of access to information and the communication forms of residents were significantly correlated with their relocation decisions, while the role of disaster-risk perceptions was ineffective.
Climate change is a major source of external shocks to the economy. In this article, we estimate the short-term impacts of tropical storms on food prices. After matching the track records of tropical storms with retail prices of food products during 1998 and 2012 in China, we find that tropical storms lead to food prices increasing by 2.3%, and the effect lasts more than one month. The positive impacts on prices mainly concentrate on fresh vegetable products. One main channel of price increases caused by tropical storms is the supply-side shock to the transportation and distribution system. We find limited evidence of price increases driven by demand-side shocks such as food displacement and food composition changes. The impacts of tropical storms on food price increases lead to a total loss amounting to $92 million each year on average. This study contributes to literature evaluating the price impacts caused by tropical storms and provides policy implications on enhancing food supply resilience.
Pakistan is located in one of the most earthquake-prone regions of the world. The 2005 Muzaffarabad earthquake (Mw 7.6) resulted in massive destruction of the infrastructural facilities and significant social losses. In order to develop effective strategies to reduce the social, environmental, and economic losses from future destructive earthquakes, it is important to assess the level of earthquake preparedness in this region. This study evaluates potential association between perceived risk and earthquake preparedness at the household level in urban, peri-urban, and rural areas of Rawalakot – a city located in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) region. Based on the Yamane method, 400 samples from urban, peri-urban, and rural study areas were collected using the random sampling technique. Primary data was collected from face-to-face interviews using structured questionnaires. An index-based approach was used to determine risk perception and preparedness indices. The overall level of risk perception and its important dimensions (fear, awareness, trust, and attitude) were quantified using a set of appropriate indicators. Linear regression model were used to find the significant variance in any relationship between risk perception and preparedness. The results revealed that risk perception is significantly influenced by the fear of future earthquakes, expected breakdown of supplies, and expected damage of the house structures. The study also found that risk perception and its various dimensions may significantly influence earthquake preparedness. The findings of this study can be used by the relevant authorities to devise integrated risk awareness and preparedness programs at the household level.
This study investigates the mechanisms of informal social support on individuals' disaster preparedness. Specifically, we examine the mediating roles of perceived collective efficacy and self-efficacy. Drawing on survey data of 1056 drought-prone and 203 earthquake-prone villagers in two rural areas of China, we found that informal social support affected preparedness positively in the drought contexts but negatively in the earthquake contexts. Moreover, as mediators, perceived collective efficacy and self-efficacy differed in their effects on people's disaster preparations. The findings provide important insights for risk managers in showing that interventions involving collective efficacy can be effective in stimulating individual preparation in the slow-onset disaster environment, such as drought, whereas those involving self-efficacy can be effective for sudden onset disaster environment, such as earthquakes.
The 2015 earthquake in Nepal affected approximately 8 million people, resulting in an economic loss of 10 billion US dollars. We exploit the quasi-random spatial and temporal nature of ground tremors to evaluate the impact of the 2015 earthquake on international labor migration per 100,000 population in Nepal. Using different sets of difference-in-differences research designs, we show that the number of work permits issued to Nepalese individuals for international migration decreased significantly in districts severely affected by the 2015 earthquake. Results further indicate that the effect of the earthquake on international labor migration is statistically significant and negative only among males. Together, these results provide strong evidence that natural disasters induce significant changes in labor market outcomes in a developing country setting.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to arrive at a conceptual roadmap that may be used to analyze the impacts of post-disaster relocation on a family’s dynamics and how this, in turn, affects their resilience to future disasters. Existing literature shows that the role of the family as a social unit is often overlooked in disaster research. Ultimately, this paper seeks to elevate the place of the family and its internal dynamics as a vital determinant of family resilience in a post-disaster relocation setting.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is a result of a systematic literature review of four interrelated topics, namely, families in disasters; post-disaster relocation; disaster resilience and family resilience.
Findings
The literature review resulted in an exploration of the experiences of families amidst post-disaster relocation. Such findings were linked towards potential impacts on family dynamics, which then resulted in the study’s proposed roadmap.
Originality/value
The study is a novel attempt at coming up with a conceptual framework that may guide future scholars in determining the effects of family dynamics on a family’s overall disaster resilience amid post-disaster relocation. It is hoped that the use of such a framework will guide policymakers in crafting institutional reforms that take into account family cohesion in disaster relocation efforts.
Background
Nepal's April 2015 earthquakes were among the largest and deadliest in the country's history, affecting eight million people. Globally, women and girls are disproportionately exposed to risk during and in the aftermath of disaster. This study sought to examine the unique security and health risks for women and girls in post-earthquake Nepal.
Method
Thirty-five adolescents (ages 13–19; 48.6% female) and 27 adults (ages 23–58; 55.6% female) from three disaster-affected areas of Nepal (Bhaktapur, Kathmandu, and Lalitpur) took part in the study in January and February of 2016. Data were collected through twenty semi-structured key informant interviews and five focus group discussions, recorded in Nepali and translated into English for analysis. Data were analysed using Thematic Content Analysis.
Results
Multiple health and security risks for women and girls emerged following the earthquakes. A key theme was the risk of violence (including domestic and sexual violence) and trafficking in this population. Concerns were also raised regarding physical health and sanitation risks unique to girls and women, including a lack of appropriate resources and private facilities. Finally, the disproportionate impact of disaster on women's livelihoods emerged as a significant theme in the data.
Conclusions
Despite great progress toward gender equity in Nepal in recent decades, pre-existing risk factors and embedded gender beliefs intersected with novel disaster-induced stressors to produce a range of health and security risks for women and girls. Incorporation of existing frameworks for gender-mainstreaming in disaster preparedness and response efforts is thus crucial to improve inclusivity in risk reduction.
Resilience is crucial for adolescent survivors' recovery from natural disasters. The holistic empirical studies on multiple influencing factors of resilience among adolescent survivors after natural disasters are rarely reported, especially for those from culturally diverse groups. This study aimed to examine the resilience level and its influencing factors among Tibetan adolescent survivors ten years after the 2010 Yushu earthquake. Tibetan adolescent survivors were recruited from four Yushu middle schools from April to July 2020. They filled in the questionnaires about resilience, academic achievement attribution, academic procrastination, self-esteem, coping style, interpersonal competence, and earthquake preparedness. Independent t-test, one-way analysis of variance, Pearson correlation, and hierarchical regression analysis were used to analyze the data. A total of 559 questionnaires were included for analysis. Adolescents’ resilience was positively predicted by grade (senior two), gender (male), academic performance, effort attribution of academic achievement, self-esteem, problem-focused coping, interpersonal competence, and earthquake preparedness, while negatively predicted by academic procrastination. The investigated factors had an explanatory power of 34.6 %. The resilience of Tibetan adolescents is at the middle level, which is involved with Tibetan culture and psychosocial factors. To design a resilience intervention for this population, trainings on learning competence, self-esteem, coping, interpersonal competence, and earthquake preparedness may be beneficial.
Individuals threatened by environmental risks may choose migration as a survival or adaptation strategy. However, various factors such as attachment to place may encourage immobility despite disaster risks. Since the collapse of the USSR, residents of Tajikistan’s Pamir Mountains have faced significant political and socioeconomic difficulties and been exposed to environmental hazards such as floods, rockslides, landslides, and avalanches. These hazards put human security, infrastructure, food security, and accessibility to mountainous areas at risk and call into question aspirations to remain. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in the Bartang Valley, this article addresses immobility in a context of changes and risks. The concept of place attachment is used to explore people-place relationships, voluntary immobility and in-situ adaptation. Results show that place attachment is shaped by cultural, socioeconomic, ecological, and historical variables and that the relationship between place attachment and mobility is complex. The strong place attachment of the Bartangis influences immobility aspirations, short-distance displacements, and return after international out-migration. Findings suggest a mutually reinforcing relation between place attachment, immobility aspirations, and adaptive capacity to disasters, which points to a need for more attention to voluntary immobility and people-place relationships within environmental mobilities research.
Evacuation and relocation are the most effective ways for residents to avoid disasters, and can ensure the property and safety of life. Therefore, it is of great significance for regional disaster risk management systems to explore the driving factors of residents' willingness to evacuate and relocate from earthquake-stricken areas. However, few scholars have quantitatively explored the relationships between residents' livelihood capital and their evacuation and relocation willingness, with consideration of residents' livelihood sustainability. According to the research objectives, stratified sampling and equal probability random sampling were used to determine the sample farmers, and the survey data of 327 households in Wenchuan and Lushan earthquake-stricken areas were obtained. This paper analyzed the characteristics of residents' livelihood capital, evacuation and relocation willingness, and used ordinary least squares (OLS) to explore correlations between residents' livelihood capital, evacuation and relocation willingness. The results show that: (1) the livelihood capital of residents is mainly comprised of human capital and social capital. Facing the threat of earthquake disaster, 40.98% and 28.75% of residents would be strongly willing to evacuate or relocate, respectively. (2) Livelihood capital is an important influence on residents' willingness to relocate; the higher the scores of natural capital, the weaker the willingness of residents to relocate. From the perspective of rural households' sustainable livelihoods, this study deepens our understanding of evacuation and relocation behaviors and decision-making by residents of the most earthquake-stricken areas. Thus, it provides useful information for regional disaster risk management.
There is a growing interest in understanding the effects of place attachment as a coping strategy in response to natural hazard risk. Place attachment is based on the domain of interpersonal relationships and can be a potential parameter to influence an individual's risk perception and coping strategies in areas facing natural hazard. The aim of this systematic literature review is to assess the current state of research linking place attachment to voluntary migration among residents living in natural hazard prone areas in developing countries. While place attachment has several collective benefits and improves one's quality of life, it can be dysfunctional by reducing the perceived risk of hazard. Place attachment provides a sense of security to the residents and contributes to one's self-identity. The review finds that residents who are strongly attached to their place are unlikely to leave even when the risk is high. This is especially the case where the place attachment is related to religious beliefs and where the social capital is high. The review also identified that place attachment helped communities to better prepare for natural hazard in the pre-disaster period. The review calls for further research to unravel the complexity between place attachment and voluntary migration from natural hazard risk-prone areas.
An agent-based object-oriented model for household displacements is presented and used to analyze household decision-making after a hypothetical earthquake in the City of Vancouver, Canada. Temporary displacements and permanent relocation are accounted for. The model for households include considerations of socioeconomic demographics, social networks, and disaster preparedness. The analysis results indicate that nearly 70,000 persons are expected to be displaced by the earthquake. Of those, close to 19,000 will need public sheltering. In addition, nearly 40,000 persons are expected to relocate in the years following the earthquake. Among the displaced persons, occupants of multi-family pre-code and low-code buildings are over-represented. Among those needing public shelter or relocation, there is a disproportionately high number of renters and low-income households. The models in this paper can help the development of pre-disaster plans by suggesting optimal location of public shelters, and by identifying decisions that reduce the number of households relocating.
During the decade after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, numerous earthquakes of different magnitudes have occurred in the affected areas. The need for immediate emergency evacuation following the occurrence of disaster was unanimously recognized by experts as the safest and most effective response of residents. Moreover, this behavior is directly influenced by residents' perceptions of disaster risk and built environment (BE). To explore the relationship between seismic evacuation behavior and perceptions of risk and BE, this study utilized a random survey in the form of a sample questionnaire in the areas most affected by the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, combined with exploratory factor analysis and binary logistic regression analysis. Results show that residents' BE and risk perceptions positively affected their evacuation choice behavior. Specifically, when rural residents perceived a reasonable evacuation route and good quality of village roads, they would flee their homes as soon as an earthquake struck. With regard to seismic risk perception, if the residents perceived highly negative consequences from earthquakes, they would escape immediately as soon as an earthquake occurred. This conclusion highlights the importance of strengthening the construction of BE in disaster-prone areas, and raising residents’ awareness and risk perception of earthquake disasters. This study has practical significance in further construction of earthquake-stricken areas.
Planned relocation may permanently reduce exposure to natural hazards; however, residents in designated re-location zones are confronted with a broad array of challenges and face profound changes in their everyday lives. The present study empirically illustrates how economic, emotional, risk and social dimensions underpin household decisions to accept or decline a home buyout offer in a voluntary relocation program in the Eferding Basin, Austria. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 79 households living in the relocation zone, transcribed and subjected to qualitative content analysis. Risk appraisal and financial feasibility of moving to a new home function as entry points to the decision process. Risk perception is strongly influenced by biographical experiences, traumatic memories, and personal resources to cope with a flood event. Economic reasons are judged in the light of the children's future prospects. Fear and uncertainty about future floods as well as a personal bond to the place are critical emotional factors. By contrast, social relationships play a marginal role because those who leave tend to resettle close-by, and because solitude and autonomy are valued higher than neighborhood networks. Status as a long-term resident, newcomer or elderly person shifts the importance of specific factors, for instance, self-efficacy beliefs or intergenerational considerations. In order to facilitate relocation program implementation, compensation payments should be complemented by communication efforts addressing the emotional and risk dimensions. Communication activities should address those who leave as well as to those who stay and should be tailored to individual needs and resources of residents.
Damages due to extreme hydro-metrological events request for additional efforts to enhance the implementation of property level flood risk adaptation (PLFRA) measures. Although a highly effective long-term measure, the planned relocation of individuals from areas at risk is rarely considered as an adaptive response. We evaluate how financial recovery schemes are actually linked to planned relocation option in two study sites in Austria. In both areas, more than 500 households were offered a voluntary planned relocation directly after extreme flood events. We conducted a semi-structured qualitative approach with 16 key respondents in order to identify how current financial recovery schemes are linked to ongoing and past relocation processes. The results show that there exists a missing link between disaster-aid payments and compensation for planned relocation. Participants gained from the programmes and used disaster-aid compensation schemes to increase the economic value of their houses. In addition, the financial schemes were not used to encourage further sustainability transition processes at local level. These data demonstrate the uneven distribution of payments with strong socio-economic implications for those who take part in planned relocation process. We recommend a better link between financial disaster-aid compensation and voluntary payout programmes, especially to reduce the uneven socio-economic distribution during the recovery phase.
Government information warns households to acquire emergency supplies as hurricanes threaten and directs households to stay off roads after hurricanes make landfall. Do households follow this advice? If so, who, when, and how much? We provide novel evidence. We combine forecast and landfall data for US hurricanes between 2002 and 2012 with extensive scanner data on sales of bottled water, batteries, and flashlights. We find that sales of emergency supplies increase when a location is threatened by a hurricane. The bulk of the sales increases occur immediately prior to forecasted landfall. The average increase in sales after landfall is large and statistically significant. Observed emergency preparation as hurricanes threaten is moderately higher in coastal, wealthier, and whiter areas. Ex post emergency responses after hurricanes make landfall are sharply higher in African American, lower-income, and less educated areas. Our results suggest that households do not follow government advice. © 2019 by The Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. All rights reserved.
Many rural settlements in China's western mountainous regions are affected by mountain disasters, such as landslides and mudslides. For residents living in landslide-prone areas, behaviors related to disaster risk mitigation (such as purchasing disaster insurance) are inevitably affected by disaster risk perception. Due to the substantial differences in disaster occurrence patterns, landslide-related insurance research is relatively rare compared with insurance research focused on other types of natural disasters (e.g., floods and droughts). Based on the results of questionnaires administered in landslide-prone areas in Chongqing, China, this paper uses partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to investigate the relationships among the questionnaire respondents' risk perception, trust in public institutions (TPI), and willingness to buy disaster insurance (WBDI). The results reveal that risk perception and TPI directly affect WBDI. Here, competence, participation, possibility perception, and fear perception are significantly positively correlated to WBDI, whereby fear perception has the largest impact, followed by possibility perception, competence, and participation. In addition, TPI indirectly affects WBDI through risk perception. Here, competence reduces fear perception and indirectly reduces WBDI. The implications of these results for theory are discussed. This study introduces a new method to support disaster risk mitigation-related decision making that can be useful to governments and individuals.
The idea that social support post-disaster is beneficial to survivors’ mental health is widely accepted by both researchers and practitioners. However previous social support studies are mainly focused on perceived social support, and the limited received social support studies have produced mixed results. In this study we modelled the influence of both quantity and quality of received social support on long-term mental health outcomes in a longitudinal study of 2013 Lushan earthquake survivors in China. Survivors were invited to complete a questionnaire interview 7 months after the earthquake and were followed up 31 months later (n = 161). Hierarchical regression analyses that controlled for disaster exposure variables showed that greater quality of social support received 7 months after disaster predicted lower levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms and psychological distress two years later, however quantity of received social support was not significant in predicting these two outcomes. These results remained robust when controlled for gender, negative life events and family financial status. The findings of this study suggest that what appears to be critical in the process of supporting disaster survivors is the quality, not necessarily the quantity, of support provided.
Natural disasters cause serious economic and human losses. Yet there remains ambiguity in the existing literature with regard to their impact on the economy at large. This study re-examines the relationship between natural disasters and economic growth. It aims to contribute to a fairly limited literature on the economy-wide and sector-specific consequences of natural disasters in the short-to-medium term (up to 5 years). Further, it examines whether the disaster impacts are dependent on a country’s level of development. Based on panel data consisting of 102 (29 developed and 73 developing) countries over the period 1981–2015, it looks at the growth effects of four types of natural disasters, namely, floods, droughts, storms and earthquakes that were explored using the system generalised method of moments (GMM) approach. The results indicate that natural disasters have diverse economic impacts across economic sectors depending on disaster types and their intensity. The study confirms the findings of previous studies that the economic impacts of natural disasters are statistically stronger in developing countries. These findings may stimulate the policymakers especially in developing countries to explore the efficacy of viable ex-ante disaster risk financing tools (such as insurance, micro-insurance and catastrophic bonds). This would not only safeguard population and physical assets but also ensure adherence to the sustainable development goals.
JEL Classification: Q54, O10
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between potential affecting factors and the local communities’ willingness to pay (WTP) for housing earthquake insurance (HEI) in the context of ethnic minority communities.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review was done to identify possible factors affecting WTP for HEI. Fieldwork was conducted in 2017 in Dali Minority Autonomous Prefecture, where the first Chinese HEI was launched in 2015. Interviews were done in two earthquake-prone counties, as the main ethnic minority communities in the area. A total of 536 questionnaires were collected and used as empirical data for testing the impacts mechanism.
Findings
Respondents’ risk perception, risk exposure, self-prevention behaviors, government aid, insurance experience and sociodemographic characteristics were hypothesized as theoretical indicators correlated to WTP for HEI. Empirical analysis results predict that WTP for HEI is significantly influenced by risk perception, insurance experience, government aid, and age and out-migrating labors. It is evident that higher risk perception and more insurance experience lead to stronger desire for HEI coverage. However, dependency on government aid negatively affects WTP for HEI. Moreover, WTP for HEI is negative in relation to age and out-migrating labors. Surprisingly, ethnic-culture factors were not statistically significant to WTP for HEI.
Originality/value
This paper is an attempt to identify and verify factors affecting WTP for HEI, bridging the gap of inadequate research on WTP for HEI in ethnic minority communities.
After the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011, numerous evacuees had to stay in evacuation shelters such as school gymnasiums. In general, after a disaster, ensuring the safety and security of evacuees in evacuation shelters is a serious problem. Consequently, many of these evacuees feared that they would be victims of crime in the shelters or that their evacuated homes would be burgled. To examine what factors evoke a general fear of crime in shelters and burglary of evacuated homes, we conducted an online questionnaire on 300 evacuees in Miyagi Prefecture who had stayed at such shelters. From a factor analysis of fear of 16 specific kinds of crime in shelters, we extracted two factors representing fear of property and female-related crime. We then found that a general fear of crime in shelters was associated with being young and a fear of female-related crime, while a fear of burglary of evacuated homes was associated with being female, owning a detached house, and fear of property crime. Based on these results, we provide recommendations aiming to help reduce the fear of crime in shelters and burglary of evacuated homes.
Striking a balance between the management of environmental risks and values is a challenge for decision-makers. If people perceive that environmental risks are increasing they may be willing to discount local values to manage those risks, so the identification of thresholds in risk perception in relation to specific behaviors could help to avoid policy failures. The complex relationships between perceptions of climate change and bushfire risks, environmental values and support for actions to mitigate local risks are presented for peri-urban regions in South Australia. The results of a household survey (N=988) suggest that a threshold of risk perception in relation to climate change and bushfire management has not been exceeded and people are broadly supportive of balanced management interventions. A minority of people still do not perceive that climate change is increasing bushfire risk, and are supportive of risk mitigation interventions even at the expense of local biodiversity. However, a larger group believe that climate change is a driver of bushfire risk, yet are still more likely to prioritize ecological values and are unwilling to discount those values for risk mitigation. Targeted communication could assist different groups to respond to gaps in knowledge and action to facilitate effective, differentiated interventions within forested landscapes on the margins of urban areas.
We examine the role of business interruption (BI) insurance in business recovery following the Christchurch earthquake in 2011. First, we ask whether BI insurance increases the likelihood of business survival in the immediate (3–6 months) aftermath of a disaster. We find positive but statistically insignificant evidence that those firms that had incurred damage, but were covered by BI insurance, had higher likelihood of survival post-quake compared with those firms that did not have any insurance. For the medium-term (2–3 years) survival of firms, our results show a more explicit role for insurance. Firms with BI insurance experience increased productivity and improved performance following a catastrophe. Furthermore, we find that those organisations that receive prompt and full payments of their claims have a better recovery than those that had protracted or inadequate claims payments, but this difference between the two groups is not statistically significant. We find no statistically significant evidence that the latter group (inadequate payment) did any better than those organisations that had damage but no insurance coverage. In general, our analysis indicates the importance not only of adequate insurance coverage, but also of an insurance system that delivers prompt claim payments.
This study investigates the long-term consequences for adolescents and young adults who experienced the January 12, 2010 earthquake that struck Haiti. It aims to evaluate the consequences of the earthquake in adolescents and young adults six years after the disaster. During May and June 2016, in Port-au-Prince, 723 adolescents and young adults (364 girls and young women) aged 14 to 24 were assessed by means the Impact of Event Scale – Revised (IES-R) in addition to social demographic characteristics. In our sample, 35.82% reported clinically significant symptoms of PTSD with a higher prevalence for girls and young women. They also had consistently higher scores than boys and young men on every subscale. Participants with working parents had consistently higher scores across all the subscales than participants whose parents did not work. This study showed that more than six years after the earthquake, more than one third of the participants assessed had severe PTSD symptoms. Our results may prove useful for setting up mental health programmes and devising tools appropriate for the youth population in Haiti.
Earthquake and subsequent relocation adversely affects adolescents' the mental health. Migration may disturb social support system and negatively effects on the well-being of adolescents. We aimed to investigate the long-term effects of relocation, social support following the earthquake on the mental health of adolescents by comparing a control group. This study completed with 434 high school students. Study group compose of 230 adolescents who had survived Van earthquake, (98 adolescents relocated and 132 did not). The control group consisted of 204 adolescents. The data of the study were collected using an information collection form, Child Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - Reaction index, Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and Perceived Social Support Scale-Revised. There was a significant difference in the PTSD scores between earthquake and control groups, and also a significant difference in BSI scores between the groups. Participants who had witnessed the death or injury of a family member or friend had significantly higher PTSD scores than others. There were no significant differences in the PTSD and BSI scores between relocated group and not relocated group. In regression analyses, Perceived Family Support was significant predictor of PTSD scores, however neither Perceived Friend Support nor Perceived Teacher Support was found to be a significant predictor. In the long term, the earthquake continues to have a negative effect on adolescents' mental health; however, family support has been found to help adolescents to cope with psychological problems. Strengthening social support systems may play an important role in preventive mental health and psychological rebuilding.
The economic damage from coastal flooding has dramatically increased over the past several decades, owing to rapid development in shoreline areas and possible effects of climate change. To respond to these trends, it is imperative for policy makers to understand individuals' support for flood adaptation policy. Using original survey data for all coastal counties of the United States Gulf Coast merged with contextual data on flood risk, this study investigates coastal residents' support for two adaptation policy measures: incentives for relocation and funding for educational programs on emergency planning and evacuation. Specifically, this study explores the interactive relationships among contextual flood risks, perceived flood risks and policy support for flood adaptation, with the effects of social-demographic variables being controlled. Age, gender, race and partisanship are found to significantly affect individuals' policy support for both adaptation measures. The contextual flooding risks, indicated by distance from the coast, maximum wind speed and peak height of storm surge associated with the last hurricane landfall, and percentage of high-risk flood zone per county, are shown to impact one's perceptions of risk, which in turn influence one's support for both policy measures. The key finding –risk perception mediates the impact of contextual risk conditions on public support for flood management policies – highlights the need to ensure that the public is well informed by the latest scientific, engineering and economic knowledge. To achieve this, more information on current and future flood risks and options available for mitigation as well as risk communication tools are needed.