Predicting community earthquake preparedness: a cross-cultural comparison of Japan and New Zealand

By Douglas Paton, Robert Bajek, Norio Okada, David W. McIvor. 2010

156 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This paper reports on a study investigating cross-cultural equivalence in predictors of earthquake preparedness. Data were collected from Napier (New Zealand) and Kyoto (Japan). These locations were selected because they face comparable levels of seismic risk but differ with respect to their cultural characteristics. This mix of hazard similarity and cultural differences provided an opportunity to assess the degree of cross-cultural equivalence in predictors of earthquake preparedness. Cross-cultural equivalence was examined by assessing the degree to which individual hazard beliefs (outcome expectancies) and social characteristics (community participation, collective efficacy, empowerment, trust) could explain levels of hazard preparedness in each location. Structural equation modelling analyses revealed similarity in the pattern of relationships between predictor variables and intention prepare in the Napier and Kyoto data. It is argued that this provides support for the existence of some universal, cross-cultural equivalence in how hazard beliefs and social characteristics interact to predict the degree to which people adopt earthquake preparedness measures. Differences between the data sets are discussed in the context of the fundamental cultural differences between Japan and New Zealand. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Subfields: Emergency Medical Services, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/e2f09b4582f0e2c0f6c138a345b29a1446c824fe

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In Emergency Medical Services

In Sociology and Political Science

Citations in the corpus

The social psychology of seismic hazard adjustment: re-evaluating the international literature (2010, background): “Trust is a crucial factor underpinning adjustment adoption (Paton, 2008; Paton et al., 2010; Johnston et al., 2003).”
Anticipated behavioral response patterns to an earthquake: The role of personal and household characteristics, risk perception, previous experience and preparedness (2018, background): “Studies that have conducted cross-cultural comparisons among communities that have previously experienced earthquakes, such as in New Zealand, Japan, and Taiwan, identified common predictors of earthquake preparedness that can be applied in a multinational social resilience policy [29,46,7].”
A model of household preparedness for earthquakes: how individuals make meaning of earthquake information and how this influences preparedness (2012, background): “This occurs when casual influences are attributed primarily to individuals, and less regard is given to contextual factors such as how the influence of the wider society (e.g. neighbourhoods and communities) affects how people interpret information and act to confront risk (Paton et al. 2010b).”
The effects of trust in government on earthquake survivors’ risk perception and preparedness in China (2017, background): “…intention in both countries, indicating that there may be some universal, cross-cultural equivalence in how hazards beliefs and social characteristics like community participation, collective efficacy, empowerment and trust affect the degree of natural hazards preparedness (Paton et al. 2010).”