The influence of professionals on the general public in the choice of earthquake disaster preparedness: Based on the perspective of peer effects

Abstract

Disaster preparedness is an important link in disaster risk management and an effective means to reduce disaster losses. However, few studies focus on the peer effects of the social network in residents' disaster preparedness decisions. Based on the survey data of 327 rural households affected by the Wenchuan and Lushan earthquake in China, this study theoretically constructs the peer effects model of professionals to the general public, and empirically uses the binary logit model to verify the peer effects of professionals on the general public. The results show that: (1)there are significant differences between the general public and professionals in emergency supplies preparedness and knowledge training preparedness; (2)the general public will imitate professionals' disaster preparedness to achieve the convergence of disaster preparedness; (3)the general public will enhance the level of emergency supplies and disaster insurance preparedness by social learning; (4)the general public's house reinforcement preparation is only related to the direct economic loss, and has nothing to do with social learning. The results of this study are helpful to improve the current policy system of mass monitoring and mass prevention in China and provide a reference for other countries in formulating earthquake disaster risk management policies.