Influences of Risk Perception and Sense of Place on Landslide Disaster Preparedness in Southwestern China

Dingde Xu,Shaoquan Liu,Li Peng,Xuxi Wang

doi:10.1007/s13753-018-0170-0

Abstract

The effects of risk perception and sense of place on disaster preparedness have been widely reported. However, most studies have only demonstrated weak relationships and it is unknown whether these are applicable to China. This study investigated such relationships in hazard-threatened areas of the Three Gorges Reservoir area in southwestern China. Data were collected from 348 farming households in landslide-prone areas. Binary logistic and Tobit regression models were constructed to determine whether risk perception and sense of place influence landslide preparedness. The results show that: (1) Farming households’ awareness of the need to prepare for disasters was relatively low, and disaster preparedness behaviors were mainly based on self-learning. Among the 348 sampled households, 67% exhibited no disaster preparedness behavior, and only 2% adopted four of the five types of disaster preparedness behaviors. About a quarter of farming households consciously learned disaster-related knowledge. (2) Risk perception and sense of place had important influences on disaster preparedness. Respondents who received higher scores on the perception of the probability of a landslide, the threat of a landslide, and the place dependence variables were more likely to adopt a greater number of disaster preparedness behaviors. Respondents with higher scores on the perception of controllability in the case of a landslide were less likely to adopt a greater number of disaster preparedness behaviors. Additionally, individual and household socioeconomic characteristics—education, loss, distance from hazard site, information acquisition channel, and housing material—were all related to household disaster preparedness behavior. This study contributes to the current literature by improving the understanding of the relationships of risk perception and sense of place to disaster preparedness in farming households threatened by geological disasters in southwestern China.

Highlights

The Rural Revitalization Strategy1 was put forward at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in October 2017 as a general policy for building rural areas with thriving businesses, pleasant living environments, social etiquette and civility, effective governance, and prosperity, with the immediate primary task of alleviating poverty
The expressions are: Logit ðY1Þ 1⁄4 a0 þ a1i Â RPi þ a2i Â SOPi þ a3i Â Controli þ ei; Tobit ðY2Þ 1⁄4 b0 þ b1i Â RPi þ b2i Â SOPi þ b3i Â Controli þ li; where a0, b0 refer to constant term; a1i, a2i, a3i, b1i, b2i, b3i are parameters need to be estimated; ei, li refer to model residuals; RP refers to risk perception, SOP refers to sense of place, and Control refers to the control variables
Models 1–5 regressed the presence of the five types of disaster preparedness behaviors in households against their potential influencing factors, whereas Model 6 regressed the total number of farming households’ adopted disaster preparedness behaviors against its potential influencing factors

Summary

Introduction

The Rural Revitalization Strategy was put forward at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in October 2017 as a general policy for building rural areas with thriving businesses, pleasant living environments, social etiquette and civility, effective governance, and prosperity, with the immediate primary task of alleviating poverty. Unlike other factors leading to poverty, geological disasters are characterized by their infrequent occurrence, their abrupt occurrence, and their high degree of severity. These factors can instantly deplete the wealth of farming households that may have been accumulated over decades (Xu et al 2017b). In 2016, China recorded 9710 cases of geological disasters, with landslides accounting for 76.2% of the total. These disasters caused 370 deaths, 35 missing people, 209 injured people, and a direct economic loss of USD 460 million (Geological Disaster Emergency Response Directing Center of Ministry of Land and Resources 2016). Research on geological disasters is urgently needed to achieve the central government’s poverty eradication target by 2020

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Conclusion