Information credibility, disaster risk perception and evacuation willingness of rural households in China

Abstract

Information credibility is important for effective disaster communication, and its strength affects the evacuation willingness of residents. However, few reports have studied the correlation of information credibility and disaster risk perception with residents’ willingness to evacuate during earthquake threats. Using survey data of 327 rural households located in four counties within earthquake-affected areas in Sichuan Province, this study systematically analyzed the credibility of public and private information about rural households, disaster risk perception and residents’ evacuation willingness. After creating an ordinary least square regression model (OLS) to investigate the correlations of the above factors, the results showed that: (1) Both positive public information and negative private information were positively correlated with residents’ evacuation willingness, and negative public information and positive private information were negatively correlated with residents’ evacuation willingness; (2) the perceived severity of disaster was significantly correlated with residents’ evacuation willingness, and the perceived probability of disaster was not significantly correlated with residents’ evacuation willingness; and (3) both positive and negative public information indirectly affected residents’ evacuation willingness through the perception of disaster severity. This study contributed to our understanding of the correlation of information credibility and disaster risk perception with evacuation willingness and provided important information for effective communication and disaster risk management.