Risk perception in small island developing states: a case study in the Commonwealth of Dominica
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Risk perception in small island developing states: a case study in the Commonwealth of Dominica Hannah Eboh1 · Courtney Gallaher1 · Thomas Pingel2 · Walker Ashley1 Received: 10 August 2019 / Accepted: 22 September 2020 © Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Small island developing states (SIDS) face high vulnerability to natural hazards; thus, understanding risk perception in SIDS is an essential step toward reducing vulnerability. A case study in the eastern Caribbean’s Commonwealth of Dominica, which has a notable volcanic risk, was selected to explore local risk perception, using a mixed-methods approach. Focus groups were conducted in 18 villages throughout Dominica. During the focus groups, participants produced hand-colored maps to show where they believed volcanic risk existed on the island and shared their reasoning behind their maps. Additionally, all focus group participants completed surveys collecting sociodemographic information. Participant’s hand-drawn maps were scanned into a geographic information system, converted to raster images, and aggregated into various configurations based on demographic variables. The verbal explanations of their maps were transcribed, coded, and analyzed qualitatively using a grounded theory approach to identify key trends in perceived risk. Although gender was the only significant variable when analyzing the entire island, other demographic variables had differences in perception that were significant regionally. Understanding how demographic variables influence risk perception facilitates the development of better-tailored public outreach campaigns that could save lives when the next hazard threatens Dominica. Keywords Risk perception · Small island developing states · Mixed methods · Geographic information systems · Participatory mapping
1 Introduction The impact of risk perception on disaster outcome was demonstrated in 2010 when a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the Caribbean nation of Haiti. Immediately following the earthquake, Sri Lankan United Nations soldiers stationed in Haiti self-evacuated to high ground, while the Haitian population did not self-evacuate. Sadly, several Haitians died * Hannah Eboh [email protected] 1
Department of Geographic and Atmospheric Sciences, Northern Illinois University, Davis Hall 118, Dekalb, IL 60115, USA
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Department of Geography, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
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Natural Hazards
when two minor tsunamis inundated the coast (Fritz et al. 2013). Although Sri Lanka and Haiti are exposed to similar hazards, the Caribbean had not experienced a large earthquake-generated tsunami in 64 years (O’Loughlin and Lander 2010). Conversely, the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami killed approximately 230,000 people in Southeast Asia (Yamada et al. 2006). As a result, the Sri Lankan soldiers had increased awareness of the tsunami risk and took precautionary measures. Seeking to understand the factors that influence risk perception can result in better-tailored public outreach campaigns to build adaptive cap
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