How a coastal community looks at coastal hazards and risks in a vulnerable barrier island system (Faro Beach, southern Portugal)

Abstract

Faro Beach is a vulnerable and heavily urbanized settlement in the Ria Formosa barrier island system, exposed to beach erosion, overwash and other hazards that have resulted in house and road destruction. Residents have accepted the risks in exchange for the benefits of living at the beach. Previous qualitative studies have suggested that residents' risk perception is low and incongruent with the real risk to which they are exposed to. In this study we aimed to evaluate residents' awareness and risk perception, as well as determinants and outcomes of risk perception, using a quantitative approach based on the psychometric paradigm.Results show that Faro Beach residents possess significant knowledge on coastal hazards and awareness of risks that derive mainly from life experience. Other sources of information (environmental education campaigns, public discussions and formal education) are mostly irrelevant for residents. Their risk perception is relatively high, but they believe hazards are not that dangerous and are distant in time; consequently, their preparedness towards risks is low. Residents' risk perception is related to their length of residence at the beach (mostly >10 years), their “positive” past experience with hazards, that never resulted in fatalities, and their psychological distance in relation to threats, all of which may hamper residents' preparedness in case of disaster. Other behavioural barriers, such as mistrust in authorities, externalisation of responsibility, optimism bias, or low self-efficacy, may also hinder their preparation efforts. Authorities' efforts to give more information and education to coastal populations in order to increase risk perceptions or decrease psychological distance may have the opposite effect, given that individuals use a variety of strategies to psychologically cope with threats and thus maintain their psychological well-being. A thorough knowledge of the psychological determinants and responses to coastal risks is thus highly relevant in the context of coastal management.