An Analysis of the Public Perception of Flood Risk on the Belgian Coast

Abstract

In recent years, perception of flood risks has become an important topic to policy makers concerned with risk management and safety issues. Knowledge of the public risk perception is considered a crucial aspect in modern flood risk management as it steers the development of effective and efficient flood mitigation strategies. This study aimed at gaining insight into the perception of flood risks along the Belgian coast. Given the importance of the tourism industry on the Belgian coast, the survey considered both inhabitants and residential tourists. Based on actual expert's risk assessments, a high and a low risk area were selected for the study. Risk perception was assessed on the basis of scaled items regarding storm surges and coastal flood risks. In addition, various personal and residence characteristics were measured. Using multiple regression analysis, risk perception was found to be primarily influenced by actual flood risk estimates, age, gender, and experience with previous flood hazards.

Monitored versus experience-based perceptions of environmental change: evidence from coastal Tanzania

“…Leiserowitz 2006;Hamilton 2008;Malka et al 2009). Women's perceptions of risk also tend to be given less attention than those of their male counterparts (Kellens et al 2011).…”

“…Interestingly, older respondents (more than 65 years old), living in rural areas of Tanga region were more likely to perceive temperature Our result on age of respondents and perceived climate change is consistent with several studies. Age has been frequently associated with climate risk perception (see Grothmann and Reusswig 2006;Lindell and Hwang 2008;Kellens et al 2011). Similarly, several researchers highlight the role of education in shaping perceived climate risks (see Residual Plots for Rainfall in Mwanza Figure 18.…”

Drivers of risk perceptions about the invasive non-native plant Japanese knotweed in domestic gardens

“…3. Age Many studies explore the influence of age, often finding that older people have a higher perception of risk (Kellens et al 2011), however, this is usually a weaker relationship than with other socio-demographic variables (e.g. Karanci et al 2005;Lindell and Hwang 2008;Miceli et al 2008).…”

“…1. Gender the socio-demographic variable perhaps most commonly examined as a driver in perception of risk is gender (Slovic 1999), with multiple studies finding that women generally perceive risks as more problematic than do men (Flynn et al 1994;Gustafson, 1998;Karanci et al 2005;Barberi et al 2008;Miceli et al 2008;Armaş and Avram 2009;Kellens et al 2011). 2.…”

Human responses to disasters: A pilot study on peritraumatic emotional and cognitive processing

“…Risk perception consists of two domains, general/ objective risk and personal/ subjective risk, which are well established in risk research and have been assessed in studies dealing with the influences and consequences of risk perception after terror attacks and natural hazards in affected geographical areas or nationwide (Fischhoff, Gonzalez, Small, & Lerner, 2003;Goodwin, Wilson, & Gaines, 2005;Ho et al, 2008;Huddy et al, 2002;Kellens et al, 2011). Huddy et al (2002) showed that general and personal risk are, although correlated, different dimensions; general risk involves people"s opinions about the likelihood/ probability of events occurring in the future in a country or area, while personal risk is connected to emotional and behavioural constructs such as anxiety, fear and somatic symptoms or avoidance behaviour (Goodwin, Wilson, & Gaines, 2005;Huddy et al, 2002).…”