Preparing for natural hazards: The role of community trust
By Douglas Paton. 2007
165 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Abstract: Purpose – This paper seeks to examine how perception of the relationship between people and sources of information influence hazard preparedness and how trust in civic emergency planning agencies responsible for risk communication influences preparedness decisions. It aims to hypothesize that: familiarity with and information about hazards predicts the relative importance of trust; and that levels of trust are influenced by community characteristics. Design/methodology/approach – A cross-sectional analysis of the relationship between trust and hazard preparedness was conducted. Hypotheses were tested using data on bushfire, volcanic and earthquake hazards. Data were analysed using multiple regression analyses. Findings – The first hypothesis, that situational factors predict the relative importance of trust, was supported. Partial support was forthcoming for the second hypothesis. Collective problem solving and empowerment predicted levels of trust. Research limitations/implications – The findings demonstrated the utility of this multi-level model for the analysis of risk communication and need to accommodate societal-level variables in future risk communication research. The source of information plays a role in risk communication that is independent of the information per se. Practical implications – The relationship between people and civic agencies and the information provided must be accommodated in planning risk communication. The analysis provides an evidence-based framework for the development of risk communication strategies based on community engagement principles. Originality/value – This is the first time this multi-level model has been applied to natural hazards and contributes to understanding the contingent nature of the risk communication process.
Subfields: Emergency Medical Services, Global and Planetary Change, Sociology and Political Science
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/5f0345cca94becb7f4ae2919597e6c4e64493519
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In Global and Planetary Change
In Sociology and Political Science
Citations in the corpus
- The effects of trust in government on earthquake survivors’ risk perception and preparedness in China (2017, background): “…natural hazards mitigation and preparedness may due to cultural sensitivity in different countries (Viklund 2003) or varied hazards types—the role of trust in natural hazards preparedness is more salient when respondents have lower familiarity or information on that kind of hazard (Paton 2007).”