Farmers' disaster preparedness and quality of life in earthquake-prone areas: The mediating role of risk perception

Abstract

Individuals' disaster preparedness may indirectly affect their quality of life through the way they perceive risk. Based on the revised Protective Action Decision Model, using a survey of 327 households in the hardest-hit areas of the Wenchuan and Lushan earthquakes, this study has used the ordinal multi-class logistic regression model to analyze the correlation between farmers' disaster preparedness and their quality of life, and, further, to test the mediating effect of disaster risk perception between disaster preparedness and quality of life. The results show that: (1) disaster-preparedness behavior has a significant positive effect on individuals' happiness, life satisfaction, and general health; (2) compared with farmers who have not prepared for disasters, farmers who have prepared will perceive a lower disaster risk; (3) as for the general health of individuals, the perception of the possibility of disaster is an intermediary factor for the impact of disaster preparedness on quality of life. Policymakers should consider improving people's quality of life by changing their disaster-preparedness behaviors, thus improving their well-being.