Evaluating perception of community resilience to typhoon disasters in China based on grey relational TOPSIS model

Abstract

Perception of community resilience (PCR) to typhoon disasters is a subjective evaluation of whether community's typhoon prevention and reduction measures meet public safety needs, which is important in monitoring resilient communities. However, few studies have evaluated PCR to typhoon disasters in China, despite China is susceptible to typhoons and the derivative disasters. This study develops a conceptual model to understand PCR from six dimensions, namely, built infrastructure, response effectiveness, self-organization, disaster impact, long-term efforts, and community organization. Taking Taizhou City in China as an example, random questionnaire surveys are used to collect data. This study evaluates PCR to typhoon disasters in China with the grey relational TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution) method to capture the fuzzy nature in human perception,. The findings demonstrate that the PCR to typhoon disasters in Taizhou is generally good, which varies in different regions. The level of disaster impact perception dimension is the highest and the built infrastructure perception level is ranked second while self-organization as third, long-term efforts as fourth, response effectiveness as fifth and community organization perception as the lowest. The conceptual model and index system developed in this study can enrich theoretical understandings of community resilience. The proposed method also provides a useful reference to measure PCR for different types of disasters, geographical regions, and social backgrounds.