Financial Preparation, Disaster Experience, and Disaster Risk Perception of Rural Households in Earthquake-Stricken Areas: Evidence From the Wenchuan and Lushan Earthquakes in China’s Sichuan Province

Self Cite

There are many important factors to consider when creating robust, regional disaster prevention systems. These include rural households’ knowledge and reported skills of earthquake disasters, disaster risk perception, awareness of disaster risk reduction, willingness to purchase insurance, and willingness to relocate to avoid disasters. However, few empirical studies have systematically established the theoretical research frameworks to analyze these factors. This study analyzed the data sampled from 241 rural households located in counties affected by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. A theoretical model was designed to investigate rural households’ disaster risk perception and used path analysis to systematically analyze the mechanism of the factors stated above. The results showed that 53.11% of rural households had a stronger willingness to purchase disease insurance and 72.19% had a stronger willingness to relocate to avoid disasters. Risk perception, knowledge and reported skills, and awareness of disaster risk reduction were significantly correlated with a willingness to purchase disaster insurance. Risk perception and awareness of disaster risk reduction were significantly positively correlated with a willingness to relocate to avoid disasters. Knowledge and reported skills indirectly affected the willingness to purchase insurance and the willingness to relocate to avoid disasters through risk perception and awareness of disaster risk reduction. Risk perception could indirectly affect the willingness to purchase insurance and the willingness to relocate to avoid disasters through awareness of disaster risk reduction.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Earthquake Disaster Risk Perception Process Model for Rural Households: A Pilot Study from Southwestern China

Liu

Deng

et al. 2019

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“…Sichuan province is one of the most earthquake-prone areas in China, the most famous of which are the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 and the Lushan earthquake in 2012 [ 16 ]. According to statistics, the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, with a magnitude of 8.0, destroyed more than 100,000 square kilometers and involved 237 districts and counties, causing nearly 460,000 casualties and direct economic losses of up to 845.215 billion Yuan [ 19 ]. With a magnitude of 7.0, the Lushan earthquake in 2012 mainly affected Lushan county, Baoxing County, Tianquan County and other counties, and affected a total of 383,000 people, with direct economic losses of up to 50 billion Yuan [ 16 , 19 ].…”

Section: Materials and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The direct economic losses from earthquake disasters in China amounted to 1133.4 billion Yuan, of which 938.7 billion Yuan or 82.82%, was in Sichuan Province [ 17 ]. The Wenchuan earthquake and Lushan earthquake are two major earthquakes with a magnitude of more than seven that caused about 450,000 casualties and direct economic losses of more than 900 billion Yuan [ 18 , 19 ]. Due to geological disasters and extreme weather conditions, poverty-prone populations in some Western mountain areas have returned to poverty at an average rate of 15–25%—or as high as 30–50% in some places [ 20 , 21 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differences in the Disaster-Preparedness Behaviors of the General Public and Professionals: Evidence from Sichuan Province, China

Yong

Zhuang

Liu

et al. 2020

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Sichuan Province in China is one of the world’s most earthquake-stricken areas. Wenchuan and Lushan Counties in Sichuan and other earthquake-stricken areas contain rural settlements subject to geological disasters and poverty. However, there is little research on the characteristics of disaster-preparedness behavior and whether these differ between professionals and the general public in rural settlements with high earthquake risk and poverty. Using survey data from 327 farmers in rural settlements affected by major earthquakes in Wenchuan and Lushan Counties, independent-sample t-tests and chi-squared tests were used to test for differences in the disaster-preparedness behaviors of professionals and the general public. The results show that (1) there were significant differences in emergency-disaster preparedness, knowledge and skills preparedness and overall disaster-prevention preparedness, and (2) there was no significant difference in physical disaster-prevention preparation. Based on these results, the study suggests policy directions for regional poverty alleviation, disaster prevention and reduction and disaster management.

“…Over the past 20 years, with the movement of geological plates, earthquake disasters have occurred frequently around the world, causing serious losses to human life and property [1][2][3][4]. Statistics indicate that between 2000 and 2018, 830,400 people were affected and 87,900 people were killed by earthquake disasters worldwide [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disaster Risk Perception, Sense of Pace, Evacuation Willingness, and Relocation Willingness of Rural Households in Earthquake-Stricken Areas: Evidence from Sichuan Province, China

Chen

Deng

et al. 2020

Self Cite

Based on survey data from 327 rural households in the areas affected by the Wenchuan Earthquake and Lushan Earthquake in Sichuan Province, this study systematically analyzed disaster risk perception, sense of place, evacuation willingness, and relocation willingness among residents in these earthquake-stricken areas. Further, this study constructed an ordinal logistic regression analysis to probe the correlations between residents’ disaster risk perception or sense of place and evacuation willingness and relocation willingness, respectively. The results showed that (1) faced with the threat of earthquake disasters, residents have a strong willingness to evacuate and relocate. Specifically, 93% and 78% of the residents in the Wenchuan Earthquake and Lushan Earthquake areas were willing to evacuate and relocate, respectively, whereas 4% and 17% of the residents were unwilling to evacuate and relocate, respectively. (2) Place dependence and the severity of disaster occurrence were significantly positively correlated with residents’ evacuation willingness, while the interaction term between place dependence and the severity of disaster occurrence was negatively related to residents’ evacuation willingness. Specifically, when everything else remains constant, every one-unit increase in place dependence and severity corresponds to increases in the odds of willingness to evacuate by factors of 0.042 and 0.051, respectively; every one-unit increase in place dependence × severity corresponds to a decrease in the odds of willingness to evacuation by a factor of 0.004. (3) Place identity was significantly negatively correlated with residents’ relocation willingness, while place dependence and severity of disaster occurrence were positively related to residents’ relocation willingness. The interaction term between place dependence and the severity of disaster occurrence as well as the interaction term between place identity and severity of disaster occurrence were significantly negatively correlated with residents’ relocation willingness. Specifically, every one-unit increase in place identity corresponds to a decrease in the odds of willingness to relocate by a factor of 0.034, while every one-unit increase in place dependence and severity corresponds to increases in the odds of willingness to relocate by factors of 0.041 and 0.028, respectively, and every one-unit increase in place dependence × severity and place identity × severity corresponds to decreases in the odds of willingness to relocate by factors of 0.003 and 0.003, respectively.