Seismic Risk Perception of People for Safer Housing

Abstract eng:
The majority of earthquake-caused deaths are instances of people being killed by their own houses. It is thus crucial to convince people that the investment in safer housing will eventually prove to be worthwhile. Because people base their choices regarding housing safety on their own perception of seismic risk, we conducted a field survey in 2007 in Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, and Turkey to better understand the seismic risk perception of residents. The survey targeted approximately 800 households in each country. Trained surveyors visited the selected houses to conduct interviews and fill in questionnaires. The questionnaire includes questions asking whether the residents think their house is safe against earthquakes, how they want to avoid the risks of damage to their house and harm to their family, and what they know about seismic retrofitting, in addition to questions about their sex, age, household income, occupation, and house-related information such as floor area, structural type, cost, and ownership. This study analyses how people perceive seismic risk, how such perception is associated with demographic variables and housing conditions, and how their risk perception affects their behaviour towards earthquake-safe housing measures. The findings will help stakeholders develop disaster risk management policies and initiatives that take into account public risk perception, disseminate technologies for safer housing to communities, and convince people that investment for safety is worthwhile.

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