Evaluation of relationship between residence resiliency and residents' awareness of disaster prevention

Abstract

The severe damage caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 highlighted the shortcomings in disaster reduction. Therefore, the concept of resilience has drawn much attention to reduce damage and to achieve restoration of services in addition to preventing damage; thus, new policy guidelines in various fields have been published. To improve residence resiliency, it is important not only to prepare for physical needs, but to understand the risks during disasters, to take appropriate action, and to make homes safe to avoid injuries and accidents in everyday life. However, the actual extent to which residents have made these preparations is not properly understood. Factors affecting residence resiliency is unclear, and it is necessary to clarify this and to consider measures to promote resident preparation. In this research, we conducted a questionnaire survey on residents' disaster preparation and awareness to evaluate residence resiliency and analyze the factors affecting residence resiliency. The questionnaire survey results show that the higher the household income and the higher the age of the resident, the higher the residence resiliency. Residents living in areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake showed a relatively high resilience. In addition, factor analysis was conducted, and we extracted elements describing residence resiliency. Eight factors were extracted from questionnaires on resilience, and the factors were classified as "Risk understand 1", "Risk understand 2", "Life continuity", "Action plan", "Links with region", "Equipment preparation", "Daily safety", and "Information". Evaluating the resilience for each factor indicated that the "Links with region" and "Equipment preparation" factors are inadequate, and that information is provided according to these factors. We analyzed the relationship between residents' awareness and residence resiliency by structural equation modeling. The results showed that concerns about primary damage and mutual help awareness affect disaster prevention awareness, and that disaster prevention awareness affects residence resiliency. Therefore, to improve residence resiliency, activities to improve mutual help awareness should be promoted and residents should be encouraged to recognize the risk of disaster and the possibility of damage. However, in the model we created, disaster prevention awareness only accounts for 26% of residence resiliency, and the effect of household income and age is large. Therefore, measures for promoting preparation among those with low income and among young people are important.