Community resilience and resident's disaster preparedness: evidence from China's earthquake-stricken areas

Abstract

With the increasing frequency of all kinds of natural disasters, strengthening the resilience and disaster prevention capacity of communities, and improving residents' preparedness for disasters, have gradually become effective means of dealing with disaster risks and improving residents' well-being. However, few studies have explored the correlation between community resilience and disaster preparedness. This study uses survey data from 327 households in four districts and counties affected by the Wenchuan earthquake and the Lushan County, Sichuan earthquake in Sichuan Province, China. The study deeply analyzed the characteristics of community resilience and residents' disaster preparedness. We constructed a Tobit regression model to explore the correlations between community resilience and residents' disaster preparedness. The results show that (1) the community resilience and disaster prevention capability reached the general level of disaster risk reduction paradigm, and the overall disaster preparedness of residents was moderate. (2) The higher the score of community connection care, the better the residents' knowledge and skills preparation and overall disaster preparedness. The higher the score of community resource endowment, the weaker the residents' emergency preparedness. The higher the score of community change potential, the stronger the residents' emergency preparedness. The higher the score of community disaster management, the stronger the residents' emergency preparedness, knowledge and skills preparation, and overall preparedness. The higher the community information communication score, the weaker the knowledge and skills preparation of residents. This study deepens the understanding of the relationship between community resilience and residents’ disaster preparedness. Furthermore, it provides information for the establishment of resilient disaster prevention systems in communities threatened by disasters and for the formulation of policies to improve residents' ability to avoid disasters.