Individual citizens' resilience to disasters caused by floods: a case study of Belgrade

Vladimir M Cvetkovic,Nemanja Boškovic,Adem Öcal

doi:10.33793/acperpro.04.02.2

Abstract

Due to the increasing frequency and variety of disasters caused by floods and their effect on people, environment, material, and cultural goods, there is an unavoidable need to improve the security of citizens through innovative solutions to improve Serbian citizens' resilience to such disasters. The subject of the research is a comprehensive examination of the levels and factors that affect the level of individual resilience of the citizens of the city of Belgrade to the consequences of disasters caused by floods. By applying the quantitative research tradition, citizens' attitudes about their level of resilience and the level of resilience of society were examined. The survey was conducted using a questionnaire that was requested and collected online among 377 respondents during May 2020. The research results show that there are relationships between the diversity of characteristics, experiences, and levels of education with the level of individual resilience of citizens to flood disasters. The implications of the research related to the creation of preconditions for the design and implementation of various programs, strategies, and campaigns that will improve the situation in the aforementioned area.

Highlights

Almost all ancient world civilizations have the myth of a great flood, that is, a flood, which does not mean that it was a real event, but indicates that even there was an awareness among people about the flood as an event that causes enormous damage (Cvetković & Martinović, 2020; Hussaini, 2020; Thennavan, Ganapathy, Chandrasekaran, & Rajawat, 2020)
One-fifth of the respondents answered that they completely disagree that they are satisfied with the way of informing the competent authorities and services about the coming of floods (19.8%), almost as many generally disagree with this statement (20.1%), the largest number of respondents is (34.1%) neutral, 18.6% of respondents generally agree, while only 7.5% of respondents fully agree that they are satisfied with the way of informing the competent authorities and services about the arrival of floods
20.6% of respondents do not agree at all that they are familiar with safety procedures in case of floods, while 14.9% of respondents estimate that they are fully familiar with these procedures

Summary

Introduction

Almost all ancient world civilizations have the myth of a great flood, that is, a flood, which does not mean that it was a real event, but indicates that even there was an awareness among people about the flood as an event that causes enormous damage (Cvetković & Martinović, 2020; Hussaini, 2020; Thennavan, Ganapathy, Chandrasekaran, & Rajawat, 2020). For example floods have caused a huge financial losses in Turkey, amounting to US$ 800 million between 1960 and 2014 (Koç, Natho & Thieken, 2021) This is not surprising given that the origins of all civilizations were closely linked to river valleys, which provided them with drinking water and agriculture, provided transport routes, and represented natural barriers against enemy campaigns of the surrounding tribes As part of the evident climate changes, which can be said that no one has not felt them on their skin, floods, immediately after the drought, represent the most common and widespread natural disaster They cause great fear and anxiety in people due to the destructive effects it can cause, such as the destruction of entire cities, causing millions of material damages, disturbing the environment, human suffering, etc.

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion