Knowing How to Behave under the Threat of Disaster

Abstract

The widely held premise that providing people with information and education on emergencies, such as natural disasters, will reduce losses is examined in this article. The results of an empirical study to ascertain the relationship between information, education, and knowledge about adaptive responses in a threatening situation are presented. These results indicate a poor statistical relationship between knowledge and a number of explanatory factors suggested by previous research. The study indicates that the process of acquiring information on hazards is variable among individuals and poorly understood. Overall, the ways in which people learn about hazards appear to be as fragmented as existing policies to disseminate hazard information.