Abstract
Floods are among the most frequent and devastating natural hazards and disasters in many southern states in the United States. This study examined the relationship and reciprocal predictability between two theoretical constructs—risk perception attitude (RPA) and information-seeking efficacy (ISE)—in regard to pluvial floods. In addition, this study extended these theoretical constructs to investigate differences in RPA and ISE among potential audience segments, providing practitioners with applicable insights for designing effective flood prevention and risk management campaigns. Analysis of data from 716 residents in south Louisiana revealed a statistically strong relationship between RPA and ISE. This research also identified specific audience segments that would benefit from an increase in RPA and ISE concerning floods. These meaningful findings inform a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of the relationship between RPA and ISE and guide future disaster preparation campaigns and policies.
Highlights
On Thursday, 11 August 2016, rain began to fall
Education level has been a variable commonly tested in risk perception research, and a vast number of studies has found that people with different levels of education showed different levels of risk perception on natural hazards (Wachinger et al 2013) and climate change (Lee et al 2015; Lujala et al 2015). Based on all these considerations and literature review, the present study focused on 10 factors—flood zone, flood insurance, flood experience, business ownership, homeownership, dependents, gender, age, perceived economic status, and education level—and hypothesized that risk perception attitude (RPA) depends on whether or not they live in a flood zone (H2–1), RPA is higher among people with flood insurance (H2–2), if they are flood victims (H2–3), business owners (H2–4), homeowners (H2–5), or have dependents (H2–6)
This study examined the theoretical relationship between risk perception attitude (RPA) and informationseeking efficacy (ISE) and investigated them among people in south Louisiana who often experiences pluvial floods
Summary
On Thursday, 11 August 2016, rain began to fall. It was not unusual for Louisiana to have heavy rain at that time of the year. The heavy rain did not stop for four days and, as a result, south Louisiana experienced unprecedented and disastrous flooding, which caused severe damage to homes, businesses, and infrastructure. The flood swept through high risk flood zones and locations that had never flooded before. Regardless of where they lived, many flood victims did not have flood insurance (Isidore and Vasel 2016). Despite the fact that south Louisiana has historically had more floods and hurricanes than most other states in the United States, why did a majority of flood victims fail to take protective actions, such as purchasing flood insurance? This extremely high rate of uninsured damages clearly revealed a low level of public risk perception attitude (RPA) and preparation among the population of south Louisiana Despite the fact that south Louisiana has historically had more floods and hurricanes than most other states in the United States, why did a majority of flood victims fail to take protective actions, such as purchasing flood insurance? This extremely high rate of uninsured damages clearly revealed a low level of public risk perception attitude (RPA) and preparation among the population of south Louisiana
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