Reply on RC2

Abstract

Private flood precautionary measures have proven to reduce flood damage effectively. Integration of these measures into flood response systems can improve flood risk management in highly vulnerable areas such as Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). Since uptake of such measures is voluntary, it is important to know what drives householders to implement precautionary measures. Protection Motivation Theory in combination with the Transtheoretical Model was applied to survey data collected from 1000 flood prone households in HCMC. Data analyses by ridge and elastic net regression revealed that, education, degree of belief that the government will implement effective flood protection measures and degree of belief that one has to deal with the consequences of flooding by themselves positively influence the proactive implementation of non-structural flood precautionary measures. Experienced increasing flood damage leads to reactive implementation of measures. But when the perceived severity of flood damage in the future was high, it discouraged implementation of structural flood precautionary measures even after experiencing a serious flood event. These important aspects should be considered when developing risk communication or incentive campaigns to promote proactive implementation of private flood precaution in HCMC.