Risk perceptions and preparedness of typhoon disaster on coastal inhabitants in China

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li-Ping Jiang, PhD, RN ◽  
Lan Yao, PhD ◽  
Eleanor F. Bond, PhD, RN, FAAN ◽  
Yu-Ling Wang, MSN, RN ◽  
Li-quan Huang, MSN, RN

China is highly vulnerable to natural disasters. Southeastern China situated on the Pacific Ocean experiences severe and devastating typhoons and hydrogeological disasters every year. Although respondents are highly aware of the typhoon outbreaks, they do not have necessary precautionary actions.This retrospective study evaluates the inhabitants’ sociodemographic characteristics with risk perceptions and preparedness. Subjects (434 adults) were recruited from two rural areas in coastal south-eastern China, both with high typhoon exposure. One area (landfall area [LA]) was more severely affected than the other (surrounding area [SA]) by the 2006 typhoon “Saomai.” Subjects were interviewed using a structured questionnaire with items addressing sociodemographic characteristics and exposure to public education related to emergency preparedness, risk perception, and coping strategies. Overall, most residents (92 percent) were aware that they lived in a high-risk area. About 54.6 percent respondents chose media as the first approach to obtain preparedness education, and 32.4 percent of respondents thought that personal experience is an important tool to defend themselves from typhoon. In LA, residents perceived themselves to be at higher risk than those who lived in the SA. More than 66.5 percent of respondents were terrified by typhoon, and 62.2 percent of respondents were afraid of its recurrence. Respondents emphasized that their life style (61.4 percent), property losses (54.5 percent), and threat to life (52.4 percent) were influenced by typhoon attack. Coping behavior most likely to be adopted was “anticipatory food, water storage and residents in LA is significantly higher than SA (p 0.01). Risk perception with Spider Map analysis depicted that the item of disaster information is similar in both familiarity or dread associated with the risk axes (p 0.05). However, in rescue and recovery of typhoon items, the score of familiarity with risk and dread with the risk axes is below 2.5. Regression analyses indicated that poor coping behavior was positively associated with age, risk perception, residential location, and knowledge of preparedness. The results indicated that risk perceptions and precaution activity were strongly related with inhabitants’ sociodemographic characteristics and vulnerability of disaster-affected zone.

Author(s):  
Janice Ying-en Ho ◽  
Emily Ying Yang Chan ◽  
Holly Ching Yu Lam ◽  
May Pui Shan Yeung ◽  
Carol Ka Po Wong ◽  
...  

Water security is essential for maintaining health and well-being, and for reducing a population’s vulnerability in a disaster. Among resource-poor villagers in China, water-related disasters and climate change may increasingly affect people’s water security. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between perceived water security and disaster risk perception in a rural ethnic minority community. A cross-sectional household survey was conducted in 2015 in Xingguang village, Chongqing, China, examining the association between villagers’ perceptions of household water security, disaster risk, and sociodemographic variables. Among 52 household representatives, 84.6% relied on rainwater as their main water source and 63.5% reported having insufficient water on a regular basis. Only 32.7% perceived themselves to be living in a high-risk area, of which climate-related disasters such as storms (44.4%) and droughts (38.9%) were the most frequently reported disasters in their area. Insufficient water quantity, previous disaster experience, and household members on chronic disease medication were found to be associated with higher disaster risk perception. Perceived water security indicators were not found to be predictors of preparedness attitudes and coping ability. Addressing water sufficiency in both disaster risk reduction strategies and long-term water management will be necessary to improve the health and livelihood of rural villagers in the coming decades.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leila Jahangiry ◽  
Fatemeh Bakhtari ◽  
Zahara Sohrabi ◽  
Parvin Reihani ◽  
Sirous Samei ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has emerged as a major global public health challenge. This study aimed to investigate how people perceived the COVID-19 outbreak using the components of the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) and to find out how this might contribute to possible behavioral responses to the prevention and control of the disease.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted online in Iran in March and April 2020. The Data were collected using an electronic questionnaire via Porsline. Participants were recruited using online applications and posts on a number of platforms such as Telegram, WhatsApp, and Instagram asking people to take part in the study. To collect data a self-designed questionnaire based on the EPPM was used in order to measure the risk perception (efficacy, defensive responses, perceived treat) related to the COVID-19. Descriptive statics, chi-square, t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA), were used to explore the data.Results: A total of 3,727 individuals with a mean age (SD) of 37.0 (11.1) years participated in the study. The results revealed significant progressive increases in efficacy, defensive responses and perceived treat particularly among those aged 60 and over. Women had significantly higher scores than men on some aspects such as self-efficacy, reactance, and avoidance but men had higher perceived susceptibility scores for COVID-19 than women. Overall 56.4% of participants were engaged in danger control (preventive behavior) while the remaining 43.6% were engaged in fear control (non-preventive behavior) process.Conclusion: More than half of all participants motivated by danger control. This indicated that more than half of participants had high perceived efficacy (i.e., self-efficacy and response efficacy). Self-efficacy scores were significantly higher among participants who were older, female, single, lived in rural areas, and had good economic status. The results suggest that socioeconomic and demographic factors are the main determinants of risk perceptions for controlling the COVID-19 pandemic.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Irwin ◽  
Nejc Sedlar ◽  
Oliver Hamlet

The paper examines General Aviation (GA) pilot risk perception and decision-making via an online vignette study. GA is a high-risk area of aviation with many GA accidents considered to be the result of pilot performance rather than mechanical failure. Pilots (n = 101) were presented with 12 go/no-go take-off decision scenarios across four risk categories (compromised performance, environment, faulty equipment, missing equipment). Scenarios depicting a missing checklist, missing sunglasses and stress were considered less risky than illness, a faulty airspeed indicator (ASI) and a broken seatbelt. Pilots weighed their take-off decisions against mitigating factors, protective measures and flight parameters. Situation awareness training and a focus on pre-flight planning may help to enhance flight safety within this group.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farida M. Jeejeebhoy ◽  
Laurie J. Morrison

Cardiac arrest during pregnancy is a dedicated chapter in the American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care; however, a robust maternal cardiac arrest knowledge translation strategy and emergency response plan is not usually the focus of institutional emergency preparedness programs. Although maternal cardiac arrest is rare, the emergency department is a high-risk area for receiving pregnant women in either prearrest or full cardiac arrest. It is imperative that institutions review and update emergency response plans for a maternal arrest. This review highlights the most recent science, guidelines, and recommended implementation strategies related to a maternal arrest. The aim of this paper is to increase the understanding of the important physiological differences of, and management strategies for, a maternal cardiac arrest, as well as provide institutions with the most up-to-date literature on which they can build emergency preparedness programs for a maternal arrest.


Author(s):  
Md. Abdul Wadood ◽  
Lai Lee Lee ◽  
Md. Monimul Huq ◽  
Asma Mamun ◽  
Suhaili Mohd ◽  
...  

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has continued to spread across the world with increasing numbers of confirmed cases and deaths. Due to outbreaks of new variants of the virus and limited treatment options, positive perception and good practice of preventive guidelines have remained essential measures for the prevention of the disease and slowing down its transmission. We aimed to study perception towards COVID-19 and the practice of guidelines for preventing the disease among Bangladeshi adults during the early stage of the rapid rise of the outbreak. Methods: Data was collected data from 320 participants. For measuring their level of practice, we asked a general question: “Are you properly following the WHO-recommended guidelines to avoid COVID-19?” The frequency distribution, Chi-square (χ2) test and binary logistic regression model were used in this study. Results: The average risk perception among the participants was 3.05±0.75 (median, 3.00) (95% CI of mean: 2.96-3.13) where the score ranges from 0 (no risk) to 4 (high risk). More than 27% of participants showed high-risk perceptions. Males (p<0.05), high educated (p<0.05), rich (p<0.01), service holders (p<0.05), and younger adults (p<0.05) had higher odds of high-risk perception. More than 71% of participants had a good practice of always following the WHO guidelines to prevent COVID-19 and living locations in urban areas (p<0.01), high education (p<0.01), rich (p<0.01), and joint family (p<0.01) had the most contributions to good practice. Conclusions: The study findings revealed that special attention should be given to rural areas, and individuals of low literacy, education and socioeconomic level to more effectively prevent COVID-19.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leila Jahangiry ◽  
Fatemeh Bakhtari ◽  
Zahara Sohrabi ◽  
Parvin Reihani ◽  
Sirous Samei ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has emerged as a major global public health challenge. This study aimed to investigate how people perceived the COVID-19 outbreak using the components of the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) and to find out how this might contribute to possible behavioral responses to the prevention and control of the disease.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted online in Iran in March and April 2020. The Data were collected using an electronic questionnaire via Porsline. Participants were recruited using online applications and posts on a number of platforms such as Telegram, WhatsApp, and Instagram asking people to take part in the study. To collect data a self-designed questionnaire based on the EPPM was used in order to measure the risk perception (efficacy, defensive responses, perceived treat) related to the COVID-19. Descriptive statics, chi-square, t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA), were used to explore the data.Results: A total of 3,727 individuals with a mean age (SD) of 37.0 (11.1) years participated in the study. The results revealed significant progressive increases in efficacy, defensive responses and perceived treat particularly among those aged 60 and over. Women had significantly higher scores than men on some aspects such as self-efficacy, reactance, and avoidance but men had higher perceived susceptibility scores for COVID-19 than women. Overall 56.4% of participants were engaged in danger control (preventive behavior) while the remaining 43.6% were engaged in fear control (non-preventive behavior) process.Conclusion: More than half of all participants motivated by danger control. This indicated that more than half of participants had high perceived efficacy (i.e., self-efficacy and response efficacy). Self-efficacy scores were significantly higher among participants who were older, female, single, lived in rural areas, and had good economic status. The results suggest that socioeconomic and demographic factors are the main determinants of risk perceptions for controlling the COVID-19 pandemic.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Gonçalves ◽  
Daniel G. Streicker ◽  
Mauro Galetti

Nowadays, restoration project might lead to increased public engagement and enthusiasm for biodiversity and is receiving increased media attention in major newspapers, TED talks and the scientific literature. However, empirical research on restoration project is rare, fragmented, and geographically biased and long-term studies that monitor indirect and unexpected effects are needed to support future management decisions especially in the Neotropical area. Changes in animal population dynamics and community composition following species (re)introduction may have unanticipated consequences for a variety of downstream ecosystem processes, including food web structure, predator-prey systems and infectious disease transmission. Recently, an unprecedented study in Brazil showed changes in vampire bat feeding following a rewilding project and further transformed the land-bridge island into a high-risk area for rabies transmission. Due the lessons learned from ongoing project, we present a novel approach on how to anticipate, monitor, and mitigate the vampire bats and rabies in rewilding projects. We pinpoint a series of precautions and the need for long-term monitoring of vampire bats and rabies responses to rewilding projects and highlighted the importance of multidisciplinary teams of scientist and managers focusing on prevention educational program of rabies risk transmitted by bats. In addition, monitoring the relative abundance of vampire bats, considering reproductive control by sterilization and oral vaccines that autonomously transfer among bats would reduce the probability, size and duration of rabies outbreaks. The rewilding assessment framework presented here responds to calls to better integrate the science and practice of rewilding and also could be used for long-term studying of bat-transmitted pathogen in the Neotropical area as the region is considered a geographic hotspots of “missing bat zoonoses”.


Author(s):  
Hui Liu ◽  
Jie Li ◽  
Hongyang Li ◽  
He Li ◽  
Peng Mao ◽  
...  

To reduce harm caused by occupational health risks of construction workers exposed to working environments, especially those for interior decoration, it is crucial for them to actively recognize and prevent these risks. Therefore, how to improve their occupational health risks perception and regulate their coping behaviors should be of great concern. However, most prior studies target construction worker safety, and little research focuses on risk analysis from the psychological level of workers. Hence, construction workers’ occupational health risk perception level and coping behavior level in Nanjing and the influencing factors were analyzed through statistical analysis with 341 valid questionnaires. Bootstrapping was applied to test the mediating effects of risk perception on the proposed factors and coping behaviors. This study revealed that construction workers have a high-level of occupational health risk perception, yet low-level coping behavior. Gender, age, education level, and unit qualification cause differences in individual risk perception level. Personal knowledge and group effects significantly affect the level of risk perception, which subsequently affect coping behavior. Education level, monthly income, and personal knowledge influence the coping behavior through risk perception. Recommendations were put forward for risk perception and coping behavior improvement from the perspectives of construction workers themselves, enterprises, and governments. This study sheds new light for research areas of occupational health and risk management and provides beneficial practice for improving construction workers’ responses to occupational health risks.


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