Regional And Cultural Differences In Public Awareness Of Earthquake And Response

"To comprehensively improve the whole-of-society disaster resilience" is the fundamental goal of the task of China's disaster prevention and reduction.As the first and most direct responders,enhancing the public's disaster resilience is the most basic and fundamental aspect of improving the whole-of-society disaster resilience.The public's disaster resilience is deeply impacted by its natural,social,economical,and cultural surroundings.China has a vast territory with high frequency and broad distribution of earthquake disasters.There are significant differences in natural,social,economical,and cultural environments in different regions.Gaining insights from how these differences impact the public's earthquake disaster awareness(EDA)and earthquake disaster response(EDR)is the needed pathway to make context-oriented and culture-specific policy for disaster prevention and reduction,which is theoretically and practically important to enhance the whole-of-society disaster resilience.This study takes the 2010 Ms7.1 Yushu earthquake-hit region in Qinghai Province(Qinghai area hereafter)and 2008 Ms8.0 Wenchuan earthquake-hit region in Shaanxi Province(Shaanxi area hereafter)as cases.Based on questionnaire data,interview data,and archival documents,adopting quantitative analysis combined with qualitative method,this study analyzed the characteristics,differences,and influencing factors of the public's EDA and EDR.This study focuses on the identification of regional and cultural differences in public EDA and EDR of the two areas.It also puts forward some context-oriented and culture-specific suggestions on enhancing the ability level of public EDA and EDR.Main results and findings are concluded as follows:(I)The ability level of the public's EDA and EDR in both areas and differencesAccording to research objectives and the structure of the questionnaire,awareness-and response-related variables are defined and constructed,including two categories of the comprehensive variable of EDA and associated sub-variables and the comprehensive variable of EDR and associated sub-variables.Based on the questionnaire data,a descriptive statistical analysis of the respondents' questionnaire scores was conducted.It reveals the ability level of EDA and EDR of respondents in the two areas(limited to awareness and response aspects measured or covered by the used questionnaire and interview),as well as the differences in the public's awareness and response.Main results and findings are concluded as follows:1.The overall ability level of EDA,EDR,and the level differencesThe sample population's scoring rates of the EDA and EDR variables([0,1])reflect the level/capability of each awareness-and response-aspect.The results show that the average EDA and EDR score rate of respondents in Qinghai area are 0.45 and 0.43,respectively,which is significantly lower than their counterpart values(0.68 and 0.65)in Shaanxi area.It shows that the overall ability levels of the public's EDA and EDR in both areas are not satisfactory;and the inhabitants in Qinghai area is obviously worse.2.The ability levels of different aspects of EDA,EDR,and the level differences(1)The ability levels of different aspects of EDA and differencesThis study used four aspects of earthquake knowledge,earthquake survival skill,the understanding of government's earthquake disaster risk reduction(DRR)practices and earthquake policy,and attitude to earthquake disaster prevention and reduction,to reflect the public's awareness of earthquake.Results show that there are both differences and similarities in these four aspects:· Earthquake knowledge.The main similarities are:(1)“Earthquake magnitude,more than 99% of the earthquake people are unfelt,earthquake causes damage by seismic waves,the main shock has only one magnitude parameter but different intensity parameters,and the relationship between the main shock and aftershock " are mastered relatively well in the two areas;(2)In both areas,the weakest knowledge points are “magnitude-intensity relationship and magnitude-disaster severity relationship",with the score rate lower than 15%;(3)The public's understanding of “China's earthquakes are frequent” and “Earthquakes in Western China are more than Eastern China” is not as good as expected,whose score rates are only 26%(Qinghai)and 37%(Shaanxi).The main differences are that respondents in Shaanxi have a better understanding of earthquake knowledge than Qinghai,and the advantages are reflected in all the above-mentioned knowledge points.· Earthquake survival skill.The main similarities are:(1)Respondents in both areas have a very poor grasp of emergency medical skills.The mastery rates are generally below 15%(Qinghai)and 20%(Shaanxi)respectively,which are lower than that of other various emergency escape skills(30%-50% in Qinghai,60%-90% in Shaanxi);(2)Among the various emergency escape skills,respondents of the two areas have the lowest score rate on the item of “closing the fire source/power source,and do not use open-flame as much as possible during escape”.The main differences are that respondents in Shaanxi obviously better mastered those earthquake survival skills,and the advantages are mainly shown in the understanding of the emergency escape skills.Except for the matters related to “electricity/fire”,their score rates are close to/ even more than 80%.· Understanding of government's earthquake DRR practices and earthquake policies of local government.The main similarities are:(1)Respondents in the two areas have learned more about earthquake emergency drills and school disaster education,but have insufficient understanding regarding earthquake scientific research and building safety assessment.(2)The main differences are that Shaanxi respondent's understanding of this aspect of awareness is generally better than that of Qinghai respondents.The main advantages are reflected in the understanding of the practices and policies related to “earthquake prediction” and “earthquake forecast”.· Attitude and willingness.The main similarities are: Respondents in both areas have a positive attitude to earthquake disaster prevention and mitigation.More than 60% of the respondents expressed their willingness to learn earthquake knowledge,to learn earthquake survival skills,to view self-and mutual-rescue measures are important,etc.The main differences are reflected in the fact that Shaanxi respondents' attitudes are more active,especially in their opinions of the importance of self-and mutual-rescue.(2)The ability levels of different aspects of EDR and differencesEDR discussed in this study consists of three aspects: individual response(emergency escape,emotional response and recovery,and earthquake rumor identification);family selfrescue and short-term recovery;the public's pan-disaster behaviors and attitudes in the disasterstricken areas.· Individual response.The main similarities are:(1)Respondents in both areas did not take the needed measures to reduce secondary fire risk,and the relevant practice rates are the lowest among all items.(2)Respondents in both areas have experienced negative emotions including "fear,panic","sadness","helplessness,pessimism" and "sensitive,fragile".The main differences are as follows:(1)Regarding earthquake escape,respondent in Shaanxi area performed better,especially in the selection of temporary shelters.(2)The short-term emotional recovery of Shaanxi respondents is better than those in Qinghai.One month after the earthquake,75.6% of the affected people in Shaanxi resumed their confidence of life.The corresponding proportion of the Qinghai disaster area is 59.6%.(3)Respondents in Shaanxi area have better ability to identify earthquakes rumors.· Family self-rescue and short-term recovery.More than two-thirds of the affected families in both areas have carried out self-rescue in a timely manner.The main differences are reflected in the fact that families in Shaanxi performed better in rescue/care for “trapped and injured relatives”,and families in Qinghai performed better in building tents and repairing houses.(2)The short-term recovery of affected families in Shaanxi is better than that in Qinghai.Most of the affected families(94.2%)in Shaanxi resumed normal family life within one month after the earthquake,and the corresponding proportion was only 51.6% in Qinghai.· Pan-disaster behaviors and attitudes after the disaster.The pan-disaster behaviors and attitudes after disasters refer to a series of behaviors and attitudes caused by the disasters that are different from the "normal".This study focuses on three aspects: Pro-social behavior,anti-social behavior,and information exchange and communication.The similarities are that in both areas,respondents felt the increase of pro-social behaviors after the earthquake,but at the same time anti-social behaviors such as steal,looting and price hikes also occurred.Regarding "information exchange and communication",there are serious phenomena of dissemination of earthquake rumors in both areas.In the extent of the occurrence of specific behaviors,there are differences between the two areas:(1)Compared with Qinghai area(56.4%),more people in Shaanxi(89.8%)area reported that pro-social behaviors around them increased after the earthquake.(2)In addition to the fact that discovery rate of price hikes in Shaanxi is 10% higher than that of Qinghai,the discovery rates of other anti-social behaviors in Shaanxi are lower than that in Qinghai area.Among them,the phenomenon of snatching supplies is the most obvious(30.4% of the respondents found it),nearly 30% lower than Qinghai(60.5%).(II)The relationship between the public's EDA and EDRMainly based on structural equation model(SEM),this study analyzed how the public's EDA affected the public's EDR.Results show that:1.In general,the ability level of the public's EDA is significantly positively correlated with the public's EDR.The higher the ability level of EDA is,the better the public's EDR is.The path coefficient(?)in SEM between EDA variable and EDR variable is 0.59 in Qinghai area and 0.47 in Shaanxi area.There is a significant difference(p<0.05)between the two coefficients.It indicates that the positive impact of awareness on response in Qinghai is bigger than Shaanxi.2.The impacts of different aspects of EDA on EDR show differences: In both areas,the earthquake survival skill plays the most important role(Qinghai: ? = 0.48;Shaanxi: ? = 0.40);It is followed by the roles of the attitude to earthquake disaster prevention and reduction(Qinghai: ? = 0.12;Shaanxi: ? = 0.07)and the earthquake knowledge(Qinghai: ? = 0.15;Shaanxi: ? = 0.12).Whether the public understand that the government's practices and policies of earthquake disaster prevention and reduction has relatively minimal impact,and the path coefficient ? has not reached a significant level.3.All the different aspects of EDR were impacted by EDA,but there are differences in the degree of impacts: the ability of escape was impacted most(Qinghai: ?=0.53;Shaanxi: ? = 0.44),followed by the ability of mutual-rescue(Qinghai: ? = 0.30;Shaanxi: ? = 0.22),and the public's emotional response and recovery are relatively less affected(Qinghai: ? = 0.18;Shaanxi: ? = 0.20).The differences between the two areas are reflected in the emergency escape aspect;although in both areas,the the ability of earthquake escape was impacted most by their ability level of EDA,the respondents in the Qinghai area are more affected by their ability level of EDA.(III)Influencing factors of EDA and EDR,mechanisms,and differencesThere are many factors that affect the public's EDA and EDR.This study focuses on the following categories: demographics,local information infrastructure,local government's work of earthquake education(government propaganda),and religious factor.Through variance analysis,independent sample T test,structural equation model and multiple regression,this study analyzed the relationship between these factors and EDA-and EDR-related variables.Among them,demographic factors are represented by gender,education,and occupation variables,information infrastructure factor(i.e.,hard environment)is represented by channel diversity variable,government propaganda factor(i.e.,soft environment)is represented by government's work of earthquake education variable;except gender and occupation variables,the above mentioned factors are collectively referred to as regional factors.Given the data content of this study,cultural factor(religious factor)is represented by religious attribution of earthquake variable.At the same time,the related research questions were further studied through field interviews.The main conclusions are as follows:1.Demographics.(1)Among education level,occupation and gender,occupation type is the most critical demographic factor that affects EDA and EDR.Namely,the higher the professional prestige is,the higher ability levels of EDA and EDR are.In terms of different aspects of EDA and EDR,what the most closely related to occupation type are the understanding of earthquake knowledge,the understanding of earthquake survival skills,and the actual emergency escape.(2)The differences between the two areas are mainly reflected on:(1)In Shaanxi area,there is a gender differences in the public's EDA but not significant in Qinghai.(2)In Qinghai area,there are occupation differences in attitudes toward earthquake disaster prevention and reduction and actual mutual-rescue;there is education differences in the public's emotional response and recovery;however,these differences are not significant in Shaanxi.2.Information infrastructure.(1)In Qinghai and Shaanxi,the diversity of “knowledge and information channels”(channel diversity hereafter)is significantly correlated with the ability levels of the public's EDA and EDR.The more channels people have,the higher the ability levels of EDA and EDR are;the correlation coefficient between the channel diversity variable and the EDA-and EDR-related variables in the two areas fallen into the range of 0.14-0.30(p<0.05).The channel diversity is mainly closely related to the earthquake knowledge and earthquake survival skill,earthquake emergency escape and mutual rescue.(2)The differences between the two areas are mainly reflected on:(1)People in Shaanxi area have more channels than Qinghai.In addition to the traditional channel of “formal education when they were students”,people in Shaanxi have access to earthquake knowledge and information through the channel of broadcast,TV,newspapers,the internet,etc more easily and more frequently than Qinghai.(2)The main channels of acquiring knowledge and information in the two areas are different.In Shaanxi area,traditional channels such as broadcast,television,newspapers,and government propaganda are the main channels for local people to acquire earthquake knowledge and earthquake-related information.In Qinghai area,in terms of acquiring earthquake knowledge,“formal education when they were students” is the main channel.In terms of acquiring information after earthquake,the frequency of having access to different channels was small and nearly without differences.(3)There are differences in the degree of trust in different channels between the two areas.Compared with people in Qinghai,people in Shaanxi place more trust in the official media and government,but place more distrust in the information from weak social networks such as “strangers”.3.Government propaganda.(1)All respondents fallen into three categories of “few knowledge”(few-group),“general knowledge”(general-group),and “much knowledge”(much-group)according to how much knowledge they have learnt through government propaganda.The results of analysis of variance showed that there were significant differences in the scores of EDA and EDR variables among these three groups.The scoring rate of the “much-group” is the highest,the score of the "general-group" is second,and the score of the “few-group” is the lowest.It shows that the government's propaganda plays an important role in promoting the ability levels of the public's EDA and EDR.(2)The differences between the two areas: Compared with the local government of Shaanxi,the local government of Qinghai paid less attention to the earthquake disaster prevention and reduction and take less measures,which had limited impacts on the local people's EDA and EDR.4.Religious factor.Religious factors have both positive and negative impacts on the public's EDA and EDR in Qinghai area,which correspond to two kinds of impact mechanisms or pathways.(1)Impacted by Tibetan Buddhism,the local Tibetan people have a tendency to attribute earthquake to supernatural forces(i.e.,religious attribution),and the more devout they are,the more likely they attribute.Religious attribution has negative impacts on the local inhabitant's EDA and EDR.(2)The common Tibetan Buddhist beliefs linked individual believers with their gods and made bonds among different adherents.It enhanced trust in others from “in-group”(people sharing the same belief)and accumulated important religious resources.Tibetan Buddhist belief and Tibetan Buddhist clergy served as important resources and support for the local inhabitants acquire earthquake knowledge,cope with daily difficulties and health problem in post-earthquake.5.The interaction mechanism between different factors.Among the above four factors,there may be one-way or two-way relationship between demographic factors and other three types of factors.Among the three types of non-demographic factors,they may interact with each other.Thus,there may be moderation effects,interaction effects,and mediation effects of these factors on the public's EDA and EDR.In addition,EDA which is a direct influencing factor of the public's EDR,may mediate the impacts of the above four types of factors on the public's EDR.Through the casual steps approach and hierarchical regression method,the moderation effects(or interaction effects)and mediation effects are tested respectively.The results show that:· Demographic factors and the other three types of non-demographic factors.(1)There is a significant interaction between education level and religious attribution of earthquake on the public's EDA.Namely,the higher the education levels of the respondents are,the smaller the negative impacts of the religious attribution on the public's EDA are;vice versa,people are more inclined to attribute the earthquake to God or heaven,the less positive impacts of the education has on the public's EDA.(2)Information infrastructure factor and government propaganda factor mediated the relationships between demographic factors and the public's EDA and EDR.There are both differences and similarities in Qinghai and Shaanxi areas: in both areas,occupation can impact the public's EDA and EDR by impacting their channel diversities.In addition,in Shaanxi areas,the level of education can impact the public's EDA by impacting their channel diversities and knowledge gained from government propaganda.But this impact path/mechanism is not significant in Qinghai area.· Among the three non-demographic factors.(1)Information infrastructure factor moderated the impacts of religious attribution of earthquake on the public's EDA.Namely,the more channels of acquiring earthquake knowledge and information people have,the less negatively impacts of religious attribution has on the public's EDR.(2)The impact pathways from information infrastructure factor and government propaganda factor on the public's EDA and EDR are independent of each other.(3)In Shaanxi area,there is a significant interaction between infrastructure factor and government propaganda,but this mechanism is not significant in Qinghai area.· The above four types of factors and EDR: The EDA factor mediated the impacts of the above four types of factors on the public's EDR.Namely,occupation,religious attribution of earthquake,information infrastructure factor,and government propaganda factor can affect the public's EDR through affecting the public's EDA.(IV)Identify regional differences and cultural differences in the public's EDA and EDR in the two areasTaking demographic factors,information infrastructure factor,government propaganda factor,and religious factor as independent variables,EDA-and EDR-related variables as dependent variables,this study conducted multiple linear regression models and relative-weight methods to analyze the contribution of the different independent variables to the variance interpretation of the dependent variables.The results show that:1.Qinghai area.Regarding EDA,generally,the impact of demographic factors is the most prominent,especially in terms of knowledge and skill aspect,with the cumulative weights of education and occupation are 78.4% and 52.0%,respectively.In terms of attitude aspect,the impact of cultural factor is obvious,with a weight of 33.7%;occupation and government propaganda also play important roles;In terms of policy aspect,government propaganda plays a dominant role(52.6%).Regarding EDR,the role of information channel diversity is dominant,especially in the aspects of escape(29.2%)and mutual-rescue(46.2%);occupation also plays an important role in escape,mutual rescue,and emotional recovery,whose weights falls into the range of 14%-27.5%.In terms of emotional response,cultural factor(47.0%)and government propaganda(34.5%)have the most prominent impacts.2.Shaanxi area.Regarding EDA,generally,all factors including demographic factors,information channel diversity,and government propaganda have important contributions.Among them,the demographic factors have the greatest impact on knowledge and policy aspect,in which the cumulative weights of occupation and occupation are 80.4% and 67.0%.In terms of attitude and skills,the government propaganda and information channel diversity play the most dominant roles,with weights of 69.1% and 45.5%.In terms of response,information channel diversity and government propaganda have the greatest impact,especially in the aspects of escape and mutual rescue.The cumulative weight of the two factors is above 90%.3.The difference between Qinghai area and Shaanxi area.(1)The differences of EDA and EDR between Qinghai and Shaanxi area is the result of the combination of regional factor and cultural factor.Among the regional factors,information infrastructure construction factor plays a dominant role.In terms of the differences in different EDA aspects,the weight of information channel diversity is up to 27%-42%.Regarding the differences in different EDR aspects,its weight is about(even over)50%.Cultural factors have significant impact on all the EDA and EDR aspects,with weights are over 30%.The significant impact is especially prominent in attitude and emotion aspects,in which the weights of cultural factor are 58.6% and 44.3%,respectively.(2)Regional factors and cultural factors to a large extent result in the differences in the public's EDR between the two areas through affecting the differences in the public's EDA differences between the two areas.In the regression model containing regional factors,cultural factors and EDA variable together,the relative weight of EDA variable is up to over 65%(Qinghai=66.1%,Shaanxi=79.9%).(V)Suggestions for context-oriented and culture-specific policies for earthquake disaster prevention and reduction1.Conduct regional and culturally targeted earthquake disaster education.(1)The content of earthquake disaster education should meet the needs of local people,and cultivating attitudes toward earthquake disaster prevention and reduction and disseminating knowledge should be paid equally attention.(2)It is necessary to strengthen the training of emergency medical skills in both areas.(3)The earthquake disaster education in Qinghai area should be compatible with the local religious culture.2.Enrich the channels for disseminating earthquake knowledge:(1)The role of traditional channels such as broadcast,television,and newspapers should be paid enough attention.(2)The role of emerging channels such as social media on the internet needs to be further explored.(3)In Qinghai area,the local work of earthquake disaster risk reduction can benefit from the role of local social network.3.It is necessary to emphasize the role of religious resources in livelihood recovery and psychological intervention after earthquake.4.It will be an effect way to improve the ability and motivation of people to learn earthquake knowledge and skills by improving their education levels,thereby improving their ability to cope with earthquake disasters.5.It is necessary to carry out special programs for loweducation groups and agricultural and livestock practitioners to enhance their ability levels of EDA and EDR.