Impact Of Rural Built Environment And Risk Perception On Earthquake Emergency Behavior Of Residents

During the decade after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake,numerous earthquakes of different magnitudes have occurred in the affected areas.The need for immediate emergency evacuation following the occurrence of disaster was unanimously recognized by experts as the safest and most effective response of residents.Moreover,this behavior is directly influenced by residents’ disaster risk perceptions and built environment(BE).To explore the relationship between seismic evacuation behavior and risk perceptions and BE,this study utilized a random survey in the form of a sample questionnaire in the areas most affected by the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008,combined with exploratory factor analysis and binary logistic regression analysis.In the study of return behavior,this paper selected the area where several large earthquakes occurred within 10 years after the 2008 wenchuan earthquake.It also adopted the form of random sampling questionnaire,and used factor analysis and linear regression analysis to statistically process the data.The main conclusions of this paper are as follows:1.Among the demographic variables,gender,age,educational background and physical status all have an impact on the behavior of residents in the face of the earthquake.Only educational background has a significant impact on evacuation behavior.2.In the study of evacuation behavior,after binary Logistic regression analysis of 7built environment and risk perception factors obtained from factor analysis and demographic variables,it was found that the better the built environment was,the more residents would choose to evacuate to outdoor areas.Residents with a better sense of risk were more likely to flee buildings in the event of an earthquake.3.In the return behavior research,the linear regression model based on the return behavior selection data under different situations shows that the risk perception has more influence on the residents’ return behavior choice than the built environment,and the demographic variables are more significant in the return behavior than in the evacuationbehavior research.Results show that residents’ BE and risk perceptions positively affected their evacuation choice behavior.Specifically,when rural residents perceived a reasonable evacuation route and good quality of village roads,they would flee their homes as soon as an earthquake struck.With regard to seismic risk perception,if the residents perceived highly negative consequences from earthquakes,they would escape immediately as soon as an earthquake occurred.Even in an emergency situation,when the rural built environment or the construction quality is better,they will return to the buildings in some cases;When rural residents have a strong sense of risk,they will consider the impact of subsequent disasters and make further judgments on return behavior.This conclusion highlights the importance of strengthening the construction of BE in disaster-prone areas,and raising residents’ awareness and risk perception of earthquake disasters.This study has practical significance in further construction of earthquake-stricken areas.Based on the study of emergency evacuation and return behavior,found in built environment and risk perception of the two significant influence,and combined with related literature,this paper expounds the specific influencing factors and conditions of the built environment and risk perception respectively,for the subsequent disaster prevention and reduction and improve the residents’ awareness of risk perception may consider the direction of work.