Residents' Disaster Preparedness after the Meinong Taiwan Earthquake: A Test of Protection Motivation Theory

Evaluation of Nurses' Competency, Motivation, and Stress Levels in Disaster Management

OBJECTIVES

This study was conducted to determine the relationships between nurses' competency, motivation, and stress levels in disaster management, as well as to shed light on the establishment of effective disaster management programs.

METHODS

In our research we used a correlational, descriptive, cross-sectional design. The sample of the study was composed of 498 nurses working in Turkey. The "Descriptive and Professional Characteristics and Disaster Experiences of Nurses" form, the "Competencies for Disaster Nursing Management Questionnaire," the "Perceived Stress Scale," and the "Nurses Job Motivation Scale" were used in data collection.

RESULTS

Nurses' disaster management competency and motivation levels were found to be adequate, and their stress levels were found to be moderate. A weak positive correlation was found between disaster management competency and motivation, but a weak negative correlation was found between stress levels. Age, education level, experience level, training in disaster nursing, and knowledge of duties and responsibilities in disasters were associated with significant differences in terms of disaster competency and its dimensions, motivation, and stress levels.

CONCLUSIONS

The study found that nurses' disaster experiences impacted their competency, feeling of preparedness, and stress and motivation levels, and motivation was found to be a predictor of increasing competency.

A hierarchical model of accelerating factors to promote urban renewal and reconstruction of unsafe and old buildings

The issue of urban renewal is complex and multifaceted. In this study, six specialists in the construction industry were invited to conduct audio interviews, which were compiled into verbatim text. The key phrases were extracted by Grounded theory, and three levels of coding were retrieved. The data were categorized into ten accelerating urban renewal factors in three constructs to establish an Analytic Hierarchy Process framework. Using institutional theory to construct outcomes based on grounded theory, transforming these into specific urban renewal relation issue elements. 113 AHP questionnaires were collected from five types of specialists, including practitioners, professionals, participants in urban renewal, academics, and government staff. The results show that relaxing the plot ratio control and incentives is ranked No. 1 by practitioners, participants in urban renewal, professionals, and academics, indicating that the factor is highly valued by specialists but neglected by government staff. Secondly, practitioners, academics, participants in urban renewal, and professionals identified incentives and rewards for urban renewal and enhancing the trust and credibility of urban renewal projects as crucial factors. However, the government staff showed a different weighting. This indicates that government staff is determined to accelerate urban renewal. Finally, the suggestion of this study is in line with the views of the specialists interviewed, who suggest that the government should hold public hearings regularly and seriously to listen to people and specialists. Only through public hearings can all parties reach a consensus. The government should consolidate the views of all parties to amend or enact a bill on urban renewal that is more in line with the changes of the times, including appropriately relaxing the control of building plot ratio and other accelerating factors, to promote urban renewal in Taiwan.

Meta-analyses of motivational factors of response to natural disaster

Response behavior of individuals is of critical importance to decrease chances of injury and death as well as ameliorate costs in property and infrastructure damage in natural disasters. Plenty of studies have examined which factors motivate individuals to respond to natural disasters. However, a systematic overview of the key motivating factors of various response behaviors is lacking. This study conducts a series of meta-analyses using data of 53,713 samples from 87 studies (77 papers) conducted in 27 different countries and regions to examine how 17 motivational factors were associated with individuals' response to natural disasters. The results indicate self-efficacy, outcome efficacy, attitudes, subjective norms, and information acquisition show the strongest effects on response behavior. Contrarily, the impact of negative affects like fear, depression, and anxiety on victims is minimal, despite the common assumption that they are significant related to response behaviour. In addition, current studies have disproportionally focused on studying risk perception, experience and information acquisition, earthquake and hurricane, and evacuation and preparation, while attention given to other types of motivational factors, disasters and response behaviors is lacking.

Investigating the effectiveness of protection motivation theory in predicting behaviors relating to natural disasters, in the households of southern Iran

Background

Disasters can lead to large human casualties, destruction of property and economic and environmental resources. The purpose of the present study was to answer the question whether the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) is effective in predicting behaviors related to the harmful effects of natural disasters in the households of southern Iran.

Materials and methods

This quantitative and cross-sectional study was conducted on 528 households in Jiroft city. Sampling was done by combined method (the combination of cluster, simple random, proportional and systematic random sampling). A total of 528 households were included. The tools for collecting data were demographic information and a researcher-made questionnaire related to PMT constructs and preventive behaviors from the harmful effects of natural disasters. Data was analyzed using SPSS v21 software, and the necessary analyzes (descriptive tests, chi-square, one-way ANOVA and Pearson's correlation test) were performed at a significance level of 0.05. Using Amos v 21 software, the predictors of safety behaviors were determined using path analysis.

Results

The results showed 51.7% lived in the city and 62.1% of residential buildings were of brick without markings. There is a significant difference between preventive behaviors and direct exposure to disasters (p < 0.001), education (p = 0.004), monthly income (p = 0.004) and source of information (p = 0.040). There was also a significant correlation between preventive behaviors and the number of vulnerable family members (p = 0.001, r = 0.160). The adjusted model of the path analysis test showed that protection motivation (β = 0.547), fear (β = 0.147) and perceived vulnerability (β = 0.135) had the greatest role among the constructs of the protection motivation theory.

Conclusion

According to the results of the study, it is suggested that health planners design and implement educational interventions based on the structures of the mentioned model to increase the preparedness of households against natural disasters.

Improving disaster management in international tourism

Despite strong interest in tourism during the pandemic, frameworks of disaster management have not been rigorously provided for the international tourism field. The present research aimed to study how to improve disaster management in international tourism toward mitigating human suffering and economic damages. Qualitative content analysis was used as the key methodology in investigating passive and active disaster management. These two approaches were compared considering tourists, tourism industry, regional governments, and international organizations as variables. The main finding has been that stakeholders must shift from passive to active disaster management, while strategically addressing networking, the disaster management cycle, and local education, among other factors. This study provided a systematic framework of disaster management by studying not only the supply but also the demand side in international tourism.

Factors Affecting Preventive Behaviors for Safety and Health at Work during the COVID-19 Pandemic among Thai Construction Workers

Occupational health and safety risks are of major concerns in construction industry. The COVID-19 outbreak provides an additional risk that could drastically affect the safety risks and health of construction workers. Understanding the factors that affect the health and safety of construction workers is significant in reducing risky behaviors and enhancing worker preventive behaviors. Via integrating the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) and the extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this study investigates the factors that affect preventive behaviors among construction workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangkok, Thailand. A total of 610 Thai construction workers participated in an online questionnaire survey, which consisted of nine factors with 43 questions. Structure equation modeling (SEM) was adopted to analyze the causal relationships among the latent variable. The SEM results indicated that organizational support and knowledge about COVID-19 had significant (p < 0.0001) direct influences on perceived vulnerability and perceived severity. In addition, perceived vulnerability and perceived severity had significant direct influences on perceived behavioral control. Perceived severity had significant (p < 0.0001) direct influence on attitude towards behavior. Moreover, perceived behavioral control and attitude towards behavior had significant (p < 0.0001) direct influence on intention to follow the preventive measure. Furthermore, the intention to follow the preventive measure had significant (p < 0.0001) direct influences on the COVID-19 preventive behavior. Of note, organizational support and knowledge about COVID-19 had significant (p < 0.0001) indirect influence on COVID-19 preventive behavior. The findings of this study may assist project managers/supervisors and authorities in the construction industry in understanding the challenge during COVID-19 and possible similar epidemics in the future. In addition, conducting effective strategies would improve construction industry safety and promote preventive behaviors among construction workers.

Public safety messaging during super bowl LVI: A pilot study and modified framework

OBJECTIVE

The Super Bowl is one of the most widely attended sporting events and requires proper communication to ensure emergency preparedness for everyone in the city. This pilot study used Super Bowl LVI as a setting to inform future research evaluating the effectiveness of the public health messaging during mass-gathering events.

METHODS

This pilot study modifies past theoretical frameworks and research tools to create a novel survey instrument focused on public safety message effectiveness. This survey was sent to all of those that opted-in to the Joint Information Center's notification platform during Super Bowl LVI.

RESULTS

The results show that message comprehension, source credibility, and perceived risk might not be associated with proactive behavior for public safety messaging. However, modality preference results showed that individuals might prefer to receive public safety and emergency alerts by text message.

CONCLUSIONS

Factors that influence proactive response towards public safety messaging might differ from emergency alerts. This pilot study has yielded results from a major mass-gathering event that can be used to understand errors that arise during public health and emergency preparedness and strengthen future disaster planning and research.

Factors related to earthquake preparedness of households based on social-cognitive theory constructs: A systematic review

Background

Earthquakes cause many casualties worldwide. Taking preventive measures and improving community preparedness is critical to reducing earthquake damage. The social cognitive theory explains how individual and environmental factors cause behavior. This review was conducted to identify the social cognitive theory structures, in research on the preparedness of households against earthquakes.

Materials and methods

This systematic review was performed based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. A search was conducted from January 1, 2000, to October 30, 2021 in Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar. Studies were selected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. The initial search yielded 9,225 articles, and finally, 18 articles were selected. Articles were assessed using the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) checklist.

Results

Eighteen articles about disaster preparedness behaviors based on the socio-cognitive constructs were identified and reviewed. The essential constructs used in the reviewed studies included self-efficacy, collective efficacy, knowledge, outcome expectations, social support, and normative beliefs.

Conclusion

By identifying the dominant structures that have been used in studies related to the preparedness of households against earthquakes, researchers can implement appropriate and more cost-effective interventions by focusing on improving suitable structures.

The viewpoints of residents of Kerman, Iran regarding the challenges and barriers of preparing households against earthquakes: A theory-guided qualitative content analysis

Introduction

Earthquakes cause a lot of damage and casualties. For various reasons, most households are not prepared for earthquakes. This study aims to identify the challenges and barriers to households' preparedness against earthquakes from the viewpoint of Kerman residents.

Methods

This qualitative-directed content analysis study was conducted from December 2021 to May 2022 in the city of Kerman in southeast Iran. Data was collected by purposive sampling through in-depth and semi-structured individual face-to-face interviews with 48 households.

Results

After multiple rounds of analyzing and summarizing the data based on the social-cognitive theory and taking into consideration similarities and differences, five main categories and 19 subcategories created based on the results of data analysis and including (1) Challenges related to cognitive factors (2) Challenges related to behavioral factors (3) Challenges related to the physical environment (4) Challenges related to the social environment and (5) Challenges related to financial factors.

Conclusion

Although the participants listed many challenges and barriers in different fields, in order to overcome the barriers and challenges of preparing households for an earthquake, the support of the authorities and the cooperation of the residents are necessary.

An empirical study of the effect of a flooding event caused by extreme rainfall on preventive behaviors against COVID-19

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, wearing masks, vaccinations, and maintaining a safe distance has become social behaviors advocated by the government and widely adopted by the public. At the same time, unpredictable natural disaster risks brought by extreme climate change compound difficulties during epidemics and cause systemic risks that influence the existing pattern of epidemic prevention. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the effect of natural disaster risk caused by climate change on the response to outbreaks in the context of the COVID-19 epidemic. This study will focus on individual-level epidemic prevention behaviors, taking as an example the significant risk of severe destructive flooding caused by heavy rains in Henan, China, on July 20, 2021, which claimed 398 lives, to explore the effect of floods on the preventive behaviors of residents in the hardest hit areas against COVID-19. Through the multi-stage stratified random sampling of the affected residents in Zhengzhou, Xinxiang, Hebi, Luoyang, Anyang, and other cities in Henan Province, 2,744 affected people were surveyed via questionnaires. Through the linear regression model and moderating effect analysis, the study found that after floods, the individual's flood risk perception and response behaviors significantly correlated with the individual's prevention behaviors against COVID-19. Specifically, both flood risk perception and response behaviors strengthened the individual's prevention behaviors. Furthermore, the study also found that community risk preparation behavior and social capital can moderate the above relationship to a certain extent. The research can guide risk communication under the compound risk scenario and prevent risky public behavior under the consistent presence of COVID-19 in the community.

Factors Influencing Public Participation in Community Disaster Mitigation Activities: A Comparison of Model and Nonmodel Disaster Mitigation Communities

Public participation in community-organized disaster mitigation activities is important for improving disaster mitigation capacity. With data from 260 questionnaires, this study compared the current status of public participation in model disaster mitigation communities and nonmodel communities in a geological-disaster-prone area. Three community-organized disaster mitigation education activities were compared cross-sectionally. A binary logistic regression was used to analyze the effects of attitude, perceived behavioral control, disaster experience, and other key factors on the public's choice to participate in community disaster mitigation activities. The analysis results indicated that model communities had higher public participation in two efforts, evacuation drills and self-help skills training, and lower participation in activities that invited them to express their feedback than nonmodel communities. The influence of attitudinal factors on the decision to participate in disaster mitigation activities had a high similarity across community types. The public participation in model disaster mitigation communities is influenced by factors such as subjective norms and participation cognition; the behavior of people in nonmodel communities is influenced by factors such as previous experience with disasters, perceived behavioral control, risk perception, and participation cognition and has a greater potential for disaster mitigation community construction. This study provides practical evidence and theoretical support for strengthening the sustainable development of disaster mitigation community building.

Access to Digital Information and Protective Awareness and Practices towards COVID-19 in Urban Marginalized Communities

Due to digital inequality, poor living, and health care conditions, marginalized people are the most vulnerable group to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examined how digital information influences knowledge, practices, threat appraisals, and motivation behaviors of urban marginalized communities. It examined slum people’s digital competencies, their access to COVID-19 online information, and their trust in COVID-19 information provided by both online and offline media. A total of 453 slum people in Bangkok city, Thailand were surveyed, and multiple regression was performed to examine whether socio-demographic factors influence the access to online communication of slum people. We hypothesized that access to online information might affect marginalized people’s awareness of COVID-19 and resulted in greater levels of their practices and protective behaviors. The finding showed that slum people who had access to online information tended to have a better awareness of self-protection against COVID-19, while elderly, female, and foreign migrant workers faced a number of constraints in accessing COVID-19 online information. Such results are important considering the pandemic is compelling societies to turn toward digital technologies to confront the COVID-19 pandemic and address pandemic-related issues. We also discuss how to enhance the role of digital communication in helping urban marginalized communities during and after the pandemic.

Earthquake Threat! Understanding the Intention to Prepare for the Big One

Knowledge about how hazard-threatened individuals perceive risks and what influences their intentions to prepare is crucial for effective disaster management. We investigated (a) whether residents of objectively higher-risk earthquake areas within a city perceive greater risk, have stronger intentions to prepare, and report more preparation than residents of objectively lower-risk areas, (b) 10 antecedent factors as predictors of the intention to prepare for an earthquake, and (c) whether risk perception mediates the relations between nine antecedent factors and the intention to prepare. Notably, residents of high-risk areas did not express stronger intentions to prepare or report more preparations than did residents of low-risk areas, despite perceiving significantly greater risk. Risk perception mediated the relation between antecedent fatalism and the intention to prepare. Among the policy implications is a clear need for greater education of residents in high-risk earthquake areas.

Stay in Risk Area: Place Attachment, Efficacy Beliefs and Risk Coping

For residents living in earthquake-threatened areas, choosing suitable risk coping behaviors can effectively reduce the loss of family life and property. However, some residents still choose to continue to live within areas at risk of earthquake disaster. Place attachment may play an important role. Based on place attachment theory and the Protective Action Decision Model (PADM), this study explores the possible relationships among place attachment, efficacy beliefs, and evacuation/relocation intention. Furthermore, it examines the mediating role of efficacy beliefs. The study also used the partial least squares method (PLS-SEM) to test samples of 327 rural households in Wenchuan and Lushan earthquake-hit areas. The results show that: (1) Place attachment has a significant effect on response efficacy (RE), but not on self-efficacy (SE); (2) Place dependence (PD) has a negative and significant effect on relocation intention (RI) but has no significant effect on evacuation intention (EI). However, place identity (PI) can indirectly affect EI by influencing RE; (3) Efficacy beliefs have a significant positive effect on EI and RI. These results help us understand the complex relationships among place attachment, efficacy beliefs, and residents’ risk coping behavior, thus providing decision-making references for the formulation and improvement of regional disaster risk management policies.

Social and psychological resources moderate the relation between anxiety, fatigue, compliance and turnover intention during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose

The workplace health management lessons to be learned from the pandemic are important. However, few studies have examined the relationship between workplace anxiety, resources and behaviors during the pandemic. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the relationship between anxiety, fatigue, compliance, turnover intention and social and psychological resources during the COVID-19 pandemic by applying the conservation of resources (COR) theory.

Design/methodology/approach

Path analysis was carried out using data obtained from a questionnaire survey conducted on 2,973 Chinese employees of Japanese companies in China.

Findings

The analysis showed that anxiety had a positive correlation with compliance, but simultaneously had a positive correlation with fatigue and turnover intention; psychological resources moderated to weaken the relationships between anxiety and compliance/fatigue; social resources moderated to strengthen the negative correlation between compliance and willingness to leave.

Research limitations/implications

This study targeted employees of Japanese companies in China. Therefore, in the future, it is necessary to verify generalizability as to whether it applies to employees of companies of other nationalities in other countries. Also, the authors used newly developed scales instead of the general psychological scales. Therefore, it is necessary to verify the reproducibility using a more general scale.

Practical implications

Anxiety encourages compliance practices but also increases fatigue and willingness to leave. Therefore, a method of inciting anxiety and making employees follow rules reduces the strength of an organization. To overcome this dilemma, managers need to provide psychological and social resources.

Originality/value

This study is the first to show how effective social and psychological resources are in the management of anxiety and fatigue in achieving high performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study was conducted in the very early days of the COVID-19 pandemic with the cooperation of employees working for Japanese companies in China. However, the importance of utilizing resources in a crisis revealed by this study can be applied to all kinds of disasters.

Highlights:

-The current study is the result of a survey conducted on employees of Japanese companies in China in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

-Anxiety had a positive effect of promoting compliance and a negative effect of increasing fatigue and willingness to leave the job.

-Psychological resources mitigated these effects of anxiety and, as a result, reduced fatigue and willingness to leave.

-Social resources enhanced the effect of compliance on reducing willingness to leave.

-Workplace health problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic should be addressed by increasing employee resources on a regular basis, rather than aggravating anxiety.

Integrating international linguistic minorities in emergency planning at institutions of higher education

Research concerning the behavior of international linguistic minorities at institutions of higher education during disasters is very limited. Many international groups suffer from discrimination based on language (linguicism) during disasters-their stories are not being told, and their voices are not being heard. The main objective of our study is to develop new knowledge about disaster-related behaviors of international linguistic minorities at institutions of higher education with a view toward enhancing overall campus emergency planning. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to collect and analyze data; 62 subjects from the international community at University of Florida (UF), including foreign employees, international students, and foreign dependents, were surveyed shortly after the hurricane Dorian alert on campus. Additionally, 10 subjects from the UF international community were interviewed. The data analysis sought to provide insights into one main question: What were the key challenges facing international linguistic minorities at UF campus during the hurricane Dorian alert? Three comprehensive groups of challenges were found; disaster knowledge deficit and false perceptions, generic emergency communication, and inadequate disaster preparedness. The research findings provide insight into the experience of culturally different groups and offer practical and critical policy insights that help in developing more efficient disaster mitigation plans, and disaster risk-reduction strategies.

Place Attachment and Household Disaster Preparedness: Examining the Mediation Role of Self-Efficacy

Household preparedness is essential for resilience-building and disaster risk reduction. Limited studies have explored the correlations between place attachment, self-efficacy, and disaster preparedness, especially in the east Asian cultural context. This study investigates the mediating role of self-efficacy between place attachment and disaster preparedness based on data from the 2018 Shandong General Social Survey (N = 2181) in China. We categorized the preparedness behaviors into three specific clusters: material, behavioral and awareness preparedness. Multiple linear regressions and the Sobel Goodman tests were employed to estimate the correlations with the control of necessary confounding variables such as disaster experience, socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. The results demonstrate that both the place attachment and self-efficacy are correlated with higher degrees of overall preparedness and all three types of preparedness, and self-efficacy plays a mediating role between place attachment and disaster preparedness. These findings highlight the importance of promoting place attachment and self-efficacy in the advocacies and outreach activities of disaster preparedness.

Exploring teachers' risk perception, self-efficacy and disease prevention measures during the outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus disease in Taiwan

BACKGROUND

The 2019 novel coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19) is one of the most serious health risks facing the global population. Teachers' responses are important in the management of the outbreak in schools. The purpose of this study is to examine teachers' risk perception, self-efficacy, response efficacy, and approach to disease prevention during the COVID-19 outbreak in Taiwan.

METHODS

A descriptive, cross-sectional online survey was completed by 344 teachers across four levels of education. Pearson correlations between major variables were calculated. General linear model with a posthoc test was used to estimate the least squares means for each level of the independent variables and test the mean differences between the response scores.

RESULTS

The teachers with a higher risk perception showed a stronger adoption of disease prevention measures, but they also showed lower self-efficacy. In addition, teachers with higher self-efficacy had higher response efficiency. Female teachers had relatively stronger adoption of disease prevention measures than their male colleagues, and age was associated with a 0.040 point increase in adoption scores. Elementary school teachers were significantly stronger in this regard than teachers at junior high schools, high schools and universities in terms of behavior scores.

CONCLUSIONS

High implementation rate of Taiwanese teachers' disease prevention measures came from their higher risk perceptions. Among them, older female teachers, especially those who teach at elementary schools, are key to implementing disease prevention measures.

Tourism Stakeholder Perspective for Disaster-Management Process and Resilience: The Case of the 2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi Earthquake in Japan

The 2018 Eastern Iburi Hokkaido earthquake in Japan caused infrastructural damage and tourism disruption within a natural-hazard-prone country. This research advances the theoretical foundation and development of natural disaster management through a series of in-depth interviews with the local tourism stakeholders on the investigation of how the role of tourism across the pre-to-post earthquake period is considered by the stakeholders. These local tourism stakeholders have performed or expected a range of actions related to the disaster-management process and contributed to destination resilience. The qualitative analysis discovers, firstly, the multi-functionality of tourism resources, spaces, and industries for disaster preparation; secondly, the evacuation and emergency arrangements during the prodromal and emergency phases; and moreover, more possibilities of restoring the affected destination to a state of long-term (re)development during the post-disaster phases. Information and communication barriers are the major difficulties to be tackled for disaster preparedness. Product creation, image improvement, local knowledge enrichment, and, more importantly, people-to-people and people-to-place connections all contribute to the result of sustainable tourism development. From the destination resilience perspective, collaboration is the key determinant of an improved Hokkaido region. This factor could integrate stakeholders through shared local values, experiences, and memories of disaster risk communication and strategies for preparedness.

Relationships between disaster nursing competence, anticipatory disaster stress and motivation for disaster engagement

Nurses are the largest group of healthcare providers and are often the first line responders to a disaster event. Nurses' disaster competence, motivation for disaster engagement, and factors that impact their motivation to respond to disaster events need to be understood. The purposes of the study were to determine the predictive relationships between Taiwanese nurses' disaster competence, anticipatory disaster stress, and motivation for disaster engagement. A cross-sectional design was used to analyze data collected between August 2017 and December 2017 from eight hospitals in southern Taiwan. Ninety participants who met the recruitment criteria completed and returned questionnaires with an 88.24% response rate. Data collection involved administering the Disaster Nursing Competence Questionnaire, Anticipatory Disaster Stress Questionnaire, and the Motivation of Disaster Engagement Questionnaire. The results indicated that anticipatory disaster stress was positively correlated with disaster competence and motivation for disaster engagement. Disaster competence and willingness to join a hospital disaster rescue predicts an individuals' motivation for disaster engagement. The results of the study add to the understanding of factors that correlate with nurses' motivation to participate in disaster events. By understanding these factors, the government and healthcare administrators can design disaster education plans and other strategies to improve Taiwanese nurses' motivation to engage in disaster events.

Safety or Travel: Which Is More Important? The Impact of Disaster Events on Tourism

Tourism is making an increasingly considerable contribution to the sustainable development of world economy, but its development is susceptible to a series of disaster events. The impact of disaster events on tourists’ travel decisions is receiving ever-growing attention. In this study, disasters are classified into two categories: namely, natural disasters and man-made disasters. Among these disasters, earthquakes and terrorist attacks—as the most representative two types—are taken as research examples. By virtue of a difference-in-difference research method and online review data from TripAdvisor, multiple incidents that have occurred in different countries are systematically and comparatively analyzed for verifying the effects of catastrophic events with varying natures, frequencies, and intensities on tourism. The main findings are as follows: (1) both natural disasters and man-made disasters have a negative effect on the number of tourists and the tourist experience; (2) higher frequency and intensity of terrorist attacks may not correspond to tourism, and terrorist attacks exert a more influential impact on the safety image of tourist destinations; (3) compared with the scale and intensity of earthquakes, the frequency of earthquakes has a greater effect on tourism; (4) compared with terrorist attacks, earthquakes have a greater effect on the number of tourists.

Disaster Risk Perception, Sense of Pace, Evacuation Willingness, and Relocation Willingness of Rural Households in Earthquake-Stricken Areas: Evidence from Sichuan Province, China

Based on survey data from 327 rural households in the areas affected by the Wenchuan Earthquake and Lushan Earthquake in Sichuan Province, this study systematically analyzed disaster risk perception, sense of place, evacuation willingness, and relocation willingness among residents in these earthquake-stricken areas. Further, this study constructed an ordinal logistic regression analysis to probe the correlations between residents’ disaster risk perception or sense of place and evacuation willingness and relocation willingness, respectively. The results showed that (1) faced with the threat of earthquake disasters, residents have a strong willingness to evacuate and relocate. Specifically, 93% and 78% of the residents in the Wenchuan Earthquake and Lushan Earthquake areas were willing to evacuate and relocate, respectively, whereas 4% and 17% of the residents were unwilling to evacuate and relocate, respectively. (2) Place dependence and the severity of disaster occurrence were significantly positively correlated with residents’ evacuation willingness, while the interaction term between place dependence and the severity of disaster occurrence was negatively related to residents’ evacuation willingness. Specifically, when everything else remains constant, every one-unit increase in place dependence and severity corresponds to increases in the odds of willingness to evacuate by factors of 0.042 and 0.051, respectively; every one-unit increase in place dependence × severity corresponds to a decrease in the odds of willingness to evacuation by a factor of 0.004. (3) Place identity was significantly negatively correlated with residents’ relocation willingness, while place dependence and severity of disaster occurrence were positively related to residents’ relocation willingness. The interaction term between place dependence and the severity of disaster occurrence as well as the interaction term between place identity and severity of disaster occurrence were significantly negatively correlated with residents’ relocation willingness. Specifically, every one-unit increase in place identity corresponds to a decrease in the odds of willingness to relocate by a factor of 0.034, while every one-unit increase in place dependence and severity corresponds to increases in the odds of willingness to relocate by factors of 0.041 and 0.028, respectively, and every one-unit increase in place dependence × severity and place identity × severity corresponds to decreases in the odds of willingness to relocate by factors of 0.003 and 0.003, respectively.

Disaster Risk Perception, Sense of Pace, Evacuation Willingness, and Relocation Willingness of Rural Households in Earthquake-Stricken Areas: Evidence from Sichuan Province, China

Based on survey data from 327 rural households in the areas affected by the Wenchuan Earthquake and Lushan Earthquake in Sichuan Province, this study systematically analyzed disaster risk perception, sense of place, evacuation willingness, and relocation willingness among residents in these earthquake-stricken areas. Further, this study constructed an ordinal logistic regression analysis to probe the correlations between residents' disaster risk perception or sense of place and evacuation willingness and relocation willingness, respectively. The results showed that (1) faced with the threat of earthquake disasters, residents have a strong willingness to evacuate and relocate. Specifically, 93% and 78% of the residents in the Wenchuan Earthquake and Lushan Earthquake areas were willing to evacuate and relocate, respectively, whereas 4% and 17% of the residents were unwilling to evacuate and relocate, respectively. (2) Place dependence and the severity of disaster occurrence were significantly positively correlated with residents' evacuation willingness, while the interaction term between place dependence and the severity of disaster occurrence was negatively related to residents' evacuation willingness. Specifically, when everything else remains constant, every one-unit increase in place dependence and severity corresponds to increases in the odds of willingness to evacuate by factors of 0.042 and 0.051, respectively; every one-unit increase in place dependence × severity corresponds to a decrease in the odds of willingness to evacuation by a factor of 0.004. (3) Place identity was significantly negatively correlated with residents' relocation willingness, while place dependence and severity of disaster occurrence were positively related to residents' relocation willingness. The interaction term between place dependence and the severity of disaster occurrence as well as the interaction term between place identity and severity of disaster occurrence were significantly negatively correlated with residents' relocation willingness. Specifically, every one-unit increase in place identity corresponds to a decrease in the odds of willingness to relocate by a factor of 0.034, while every one-unit increase in place dependence and severity corresponds to increases in the odds of willingness to relocate by factors of 0.041 and 0.028, respectively, and every one-unit increase in place dependence × severity and place identity × severity corresponds to decreases in the odds of willingness to relocate by factors of 0.003 and 0.003, respectively.