Linkage of Flash Flood Diasaster and Public Risk Perception: A Case Study with a Large Investigate Dataset in China

Abstract

As numerous mountain settlements in China are intertwined with poverty and mountain disasters, information for estimating the occurrence of external shocks is lacked for residents in remote mountain villages. At the same time, studies on public perception of flash flood disasters are rarely mentioned, and different types of disasters lead to different public cognitive characteristics and coping strategies for disasters. Based on the survey data (N = 420) from Yiling District, Yichang City in China, the partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM) is employed in this study to investigate the interaction between different dimensions of local residents' perception of flash flood disaster to verify the correctness of the hypothesis. The disaster perception was divided into four dimensions: subjective perception, disaster prevention knowledge and skills, disaster reduction policy perception and disaster reduction information attention. Four possible relationships among the dimensions were hypothesized. The results showed that: (1) subjective perception had a positive but insignificant effect on disaster prevention knowledge and skills; (2) risk perception affected each other in different dimensions. Individuals who pay more attention to disaster information have better cognition of policies, knowledge and skills of disaster prevention; (3) the impact of disaster reduction policy awareness on disaster prevention knowledge and skills was 0.454, indicating that external objective factors had a greater impact on disaster awareness than individual subjective factors. Overall, it is suggested that relevant departments increase the frequency of disaster reduction training to improve the public's disaster awareness level.

Keywords: flash flood disaster, Risk perception, PLS - SEM model