The likelihood of having a household emergency plan: understanding factors in the US context
- PDF / 571,883 Bytes
- 13 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 100 Downloads / 175 Views
The likelihood of having a household emergency plan: understanding factors in the US context Jason D. Rivera1 Received: 4 March 2020 / Accepted: 29 July 2020 © Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Individual household emergency planning is the most fundamental and can be the least expensive way to prepare for natural disasters. However, despite government and nonprofit educational campaigns, many Americans still do not have a household plan. Using a national sample of Americans, this research observes factors that influence people’s likelihood of developing a household emergency plan. Based on the analysis, people’s efficacy in preparedness activities, previous exposure to disasters and preparedness information positively influence the likelihood that someone will have developed a household emergency plan. Alternatively, demographic variables such as being Hispanic/Latino, identifying as Asian, and being a renter decrease the likelihood that someone will have developed a plan in the American context. But, the reason for these negative relationships are unclear. Subsequent to the analysis, recommendations for future research are provided to better understand observed relationships. Keywords Household emergency plans · Preparedness · Self-efficacy · United States of America · Passive preparedness information
1 Introduction Throughout the world, household disaster preparedness is viewed as the first step to reducing vulnerability to natural events. Within the USA, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and the American Red Cross have historically attempted to encourage individuals to develop and maintain household emergency plans (Murphy et al. 2009). However, despite the historic and widespread effort, Kapucu (2008) maintains that most people do not actually prepare for disasters despite knowing that they should. Along these lines, Levac et al. (2012) argue that many people overestimate their capacity to deal with emergency situations, and predominately plan to rely on emergency relief services for assistance in the aftermath of an event. As a result, according to the Institute for Catastrophic Loss * Jason D. Rivera [email protected] 1
Department of Political Science and Public Administration, SUNY Buffalo State, Buffalo, NY 14222, USA
13
Vol.:(0123456789)
Natural Hazards
Reduction for the Red Cross (Falkiner 2003), there is a general lack of household preparedness within the USA and Canada. Because of this lack of preparedness, various studies have attempted to observe factors that contribute to individuals’ preparedness behaviors. Although a variety of studies (Diekman et al. 2007; Burke et al. 2010; Levac et al. 2012; Silver and Mathews 2017) have sought to observe what effects individuals’ stocking of supplies, household mitigation techniques, and information seeking, fewer have specifically attempted to investigate what effects the most basic form of disaster preparedness—the development of a h
Data Loading...
