The Effect of Information Access and Understanding on Disaster Response Actions among the Elderly at Home in Busan, Korea

Abstract

With an aim to reduce the damage to the elderly who are vulnerable to disasters, this study analyzed the impact of disaster information access and understanding on the elderly’s response actions in disaster situations. The data were collected by surveying 191 elderly people over 65 years old living in their homes in Busan Metropolitan City. The analysis was conducted by frequency analysis and descriptive statistics using the SPSS 22.0 program to identify the demographic characteristics and major variables of the subjects. A multiple regression analysis was also conducted to verify whether information access and understanding of the elderly affects their disaster response behavior. It is found that the elderly’s disaster response behavior is affected by their access to disaster information on human resources (β=.205) and their understanding of disaster information on material resources (β=.340). The results of this study suggested the implementation plan to improve the disaster coping capacity of the elderly.