Citation

Koshiba Y, Nakayama J. Int. J. Disaster Risk Reduct. 2021; 57: e102150.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102150

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This questionnaire-based study primarily intended to explore unsafe post-evacuation behaviors of university students and staff members in Japan immediately after the occurrence of a major earthquake. The intentions of evacuees to re-enter vacated buildings under simultaneous independent conditions (e.g., cold and rainy weather) were investigated along with features that attracted their selective attention to establish effective emergency plans for universities/colleges where hazardous materials are handled and stored. A questionnaire survey was administered to 265 people at a national university in Japan. The question items queried risk perception, intentions to return to vacated buildings, knowledge of hazardous materials, and demographics. The survey results indicated that several combined situations significantly increased the respondents' intentions to reenter evacuated buildings: cold and rainy weather, personal belongings left in a building that was severely damaged, and persons with disabilities left behind in a severely damaged building. A co-occurrence network analysis performed along with correspondence analyses revealed that people who were aware of chemical hazards paid greater attention to gas release and fire events. Conversely, those who were not as knowledgeable merely directed their selective attention to items easily conceived in the event of seismic occurrences (e.g., footing, broken window, helmet, etc.). Correlation analysis demonstrated that (i) the knowledge of hazardous materials was not significantly correlated with intentions to reenter, and (ii) a negative relationship existed between risk perception variables and intentions.

Language: en

Keywords

Emergency management; Major earthquake; Post-evacuation behavior; Return decision-making; Text mining; Unsafe action