Preparedness for natural disasters caused by earthquakes: Literature review

Abstract

Over the past few decades, preparedness for natural disasters caused by earthquakes has become a very current scientific and social research issue. Despite the numerous efforts of researchers around the world, faced with the growing consequences of earthquakes, many issues remain to be actualized and operationalized through concrete research. Starting from the importance of literature review in the conceptualization of quantitative research, the work, using the analytical systematic perspective, is aimed to shed some light on and to explain important theoretical findings, applied methodological frameworks, relevant findings, research limitations and recommendations for conducting future research related to preparedness for natural disasters caused by earthquakes. For the purposes of the analysis and description of relevant works, dozens of scientific papers published in prestigious international journals have been used. The obtained results indicate that most of the scientific papers belong to the quantitative research tradition and that there are inconsistent results of the examination of the influence of the personal and the environment factors on the preparedness. Also, the use of unexamined research instruments further complicates the possibility of comparison of results. In Serbia, the research about the preparedness for natural disasters is rare and it is therefore necessary to carry out certain multi-method research in order to establish a solid theoretical and empirical knowledge base with the aim of rational decision-making of decision-makers in the period of disasters.