Abstract

<strong class="journal-contentHeaderColor">Abstract.</strong> In the context of global warming and China's disaster response patterns, it is critical to understand how to promote the effectiveness of household flood protection measures among the public. In this study, we developed a comprehensive theoretical framework based on protection motivation theory (PMT) to identify the main determinants that influence urban residents' intention to prepare for flood risk. In addition to the fundamental factors in PMT, this framework also considered the influence of individual coping attitudes and social context. We selected urban residents in flood-prone areas of Henan Province as the study population as well as collected 857 valid questionnaires through an online survey. Firstly, the results showed that both threat perception and coping appraisal of flood risk are effective in increasing residents' intention to prepare. Secondly, negative risk-coping attitudes reduced people's intention to prepare. If people do not perceive preparedness actions as absolutely necessary, they will postpone them or shift their focus to public flood protection measures. In addition, analysis of affective pathways revealed that negative emotion (worry) was primarily influenced by perceptions of flood consequences and was not significantly related to perceptions of likelihood. The analysis of trust mechanisms showed that higher levels of trust in public flood protection reduced people's perceptions of flood risk, thereby hindering their intention to prepare for flood risk. Finally, we found that the positive influence of social norms on preparedness intentions makes it appropriate to focus on the power of social mobilization. The findings will provide theoretical references for government departments to design further policy measures to improve integrated flood risk management in China.

Highlights

  • In the context of global warming and China’s disaster response patterns, it is critical to understand how to promote the effectiveness of household flood protection measures among the public

  • We developed a comprehensive 10 theoretical framework based on protection motivation theory (PMT) to identify the main determinants that influence urban residents' intention to prepare for flooding

  • In the case of the flooding disaster event1 that occurred in China's Henan Province in July 2021 due to extraordinarily rainstorm, it was found during the rescue process that life jackets, medical first aid kits, and emergency lights were the much-needed supplies for the affected people, which fully exposed the lack of emergency preparedness of the residents

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Summary

Introduction

China has a long history of flooding (Jiang et al, 2005). In China's long-term fight against floods, the phenomenon 25 of post-disaster emergency relief over pre-disaster emergency preparedness has emerged. In the case of the flooding disaster event that occurred in China's Henan Province in July 2021 due to extraordinarily rainstorm, it was found during the rescue process that life jackets, medical first aid kits, and emergency lights were the much-needed supplies for the affected people, which fully exposed the lack of emergency preparedness of the residents. According to Swiss Re, the current catastrophe insurance coverage in China is only 10%, which results in most of the flood losses being borne by the. In July 2021, the extraordinary rainstorm in Zhengzhou caused 302 fatalities and economic damage of approximately $17.7 billion.

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