Influential Factors Affecting Protective Coping Behaviors of Flood Disaster: A Case Study in Shenzhen, China.

Weiwei Cao,Dianchen Sun,Gaofeng Liu,Yi Yang,Jing Huang

doi:10.3390/ijerph17165945

Abstract

As the risk of urban flooding increases worldwide, floods seriously endanger the safety of people’s lives and property. Understanding the protective coping behaviors of the public in flood disasters is crucial to the implementation of effective flood mitigation measures and flood risk management. In this study, influential factors affecting protective coping behaviors in the face of flood disasters were identified, and the effects of these factors were discussed as well. Shenzhen City in China was selected as the study area, in which a questionnaire survey of 339 respondents was carried out in three flood-prone districts. Correlation analysis was conducted to preselect potential influential factors. Then, two linear regression models were established to identify main influential factors and to explore the interaction effects of these factors. The results indicated that age, monthly income, flood experience, trust in government and insurance willingness were main influential factors of protective coping behaviors. Trust in government had the highest positive correlation coefficient, while monthly income and age were negatively associated with protective coping behaviors. The interaction between insurance willingness and monthly income jointly affected protective coping behaviors of the public. The findings of this study could help authorities better understand the public’s intention to cope with flood and design effective risk reduction measures, not only for Shenzhen, but also for many other similar cities that facing with the same situation.

Highlights

The combined impact of various factors, such as abnormal climate and rapid urban expansion, is increasing the risk of flood disasters faced by cities [1], which seriously endangers the safety of people’s lives and property [2]
Public Health 2020, 17, x protective coping behaviors research in disaster emergency management, this study aims to identify main of protective coping behaviors and determine which extent these factors aimsinfluential to identify factors main influential factors of protective coping behaviors andtodetermine to which extent impact the coping behaviors
This study aimed to explore which factors have significant impact on protective coping Age, education level, flood risk perception, flood experience, knowledge of flood damage, trust in behaviors

Summary

Introduction

The combined impact of various factors, such as abnormal climate and rapid urban expansion, is increasing the risk of flood disasters faced by cities [1], which seriously endangers the safety of people’s lives and property [2]. The scale of forced evacuation due to flooding has shown a fast-growing trend worldwide. In China, the consequences of flood disasters are even more severe, due to the immature emergency management system. Flood disasters will cause numerous casualties and huge property damage without proper protective coping behaviors. Protective coping behavior is defined as the adjustment process that negative impacts of flood can be mitigated or avoided, according to the definition of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) [3]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion