Public perceptions and attitudes to biological risks: Saudi Arabia and regional perspectives

Abstract

Saudi Arabia has experienced frequent occurrences of biological disasters due to a wide range of generator factors, including natural disasters and epidemics. A national survey (n=1,164) was conducted across 13 regions of Saudi Arabia to examine public perceptions to the risk of a biological disaster. The primary results reveal: (a) a degree of knowledge about biological threats such as SARS and H5N1 flu, despite the lack of individual experience with disasters; (b) age, gender, education and faith are positively related to the perception of biological risk; and (c) a number of important community resilience factors exist, including faith, education and willingness. This study concludes that the development of adapted resilience strategies in disaster management can be achieved through public education and training involving cooperation with official organisations and religious authorities in the country to increase public awareness, knowledge and skills in mitigating biological threats.

Public perception and attitudes to disaster risks in a coastal metropolis of Saudi Arabia

“…Thus, few studies explored public perception about natural hazards in the country. Alshehri et al [16] for instance studied the levels of public knowledge and attitudes to the threats posed by severe acute respiratory syndrome and swine flu that have recently affected the country. However, since disease epidemics are caused by the large-scale spread of microorganisms like bacteria and viruses, it is pertinent to explore public perception of risks associated with natural hazards such as floods, earthquakes, and sandstorms that are caused by climatic and geological conditions.…”

“…This study used a questionnaire survey, a reliable data collection technique for discovering and estimating the prevalence of a phenomenon such as a disaster, and for acquiring information on public opinions and attitudes about it [42]. The questionnaire design was adopted from similar prior studies [16], and structured into four sections: (i) social and demographic characteristics including gender, educational attainment, employment type, household size; (ii) awareness about disasters and their causes, impacts, and risk reduction; (iii) personal responsibility during disasters; and (iv) sources of information about disasters. Most of the questions were close-ended requiring responses on a five-point Likert Scale: strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, and strongly disagree.…”

“…Enhancing public awareness of disaster risks is found to effectively enhance disaster risk management by formulating more effective hazard mitigation policies and intervention measures. Citizens are nowadays seen as active partners in risk management, which is an emerging and popular field of disaster science [4,16,17].…”

“…Despite the existence of many seismic and volcanic areas, the country has only experienced low-magnitude earthquakes of not more than 4 on the Richter scale [18]. The most catastrophic disasters in the country are floods, sandstorms, and disease epidemics such as swine flu, severe acute respiratory syndrome, and Rift Valley fever [16,[20][21][22]. In 2009, swine flu affected 15850 people and caused 124 deaths throughout the country [20]; p. 12).…”

“…In Riyadh city, Rahman et al [22] assessed public vulnerability to flash flooding. At the national-level, Alshehri et al [11] studied public perception and attitudes to disease epidemics [16]. Apart from a national study that accessed public perception, awareness, and sense of responsibility towards disaster risk reduction [11], no prior study has explored public opinion about the existing approaches of reducing disaster risks or their preferred methods of accessing information about disaster risks.…”