Urban household adaption to natural hazards in Hangzhou City, China

Abstract

Household adaption to natural hazards has been critical in disaster prevention and mitigation in disaster-prone regions. However, the adaption of urban household to natural hazards is not yet fully understood, especially in the subtropical forested region of Southeast China. In this study, we investigated the urban household adaption to natural hazards in the forested region of southeastern China by using a multinomial logistic regression model to analyze 763 urban household questionnaire responses from 6 districts in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang province. The results indicated that (1) from high to low, the top 6 natural hazards deeply concerned by urban household of Hangzhou City were typhoon, rainstorm, lightning, flood, low temperature disaster and snow disaster and (2) gender, length of family residence, disaster awareness and household satisfaction all significantly influenced the urban household adaption to natural hazards. This study suggested that Government should improve channels for disaster publicity, strengthen community management and promote social emergency construction in future decades.