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Disaster warning response: the effects of different types of personal experience

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Abstract

In this paper, we seek to resolve the conflicting findings in literature about the effect of past hazard experience on response to warning. We find that different definitions of past experience in different studies are at the root of these conflicting findings. We disaggregate past experience into different types, identifying three types of past experiences that are most relevant in terms of affecting response. We test the relevance and importance of these three proposed types of past experience in an empirical context of warnings issued and response to these warning for two cyclonic events in India. We then provide the implications of the most relevant aspects of past hazard experience for emergency managers seeking to improve target audiences’ response to warning.

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Acknowledgments

The early conceptual thinking underlying this paper had been done during the first author’s PhD research at the Indian Institute of Technolgy, Bombay. Therefore, we would like to thank the PhD supervisors of the first author, Prof. Anand Patwardhan and Prof. D. Parthasarthy. The first author is deeply thankful to Mr. R. Sivakumar (Jt. Commissioner, Revenue Department, Government of Tamil Nadu), Mr. GaganDeep Singh Bedi (Collector, Cuddalore, 2006), Mrs. G. Jayalakshmi (Collector, Guntur, 2007), Mrs. Udayalakshmi (Collector, Prakasam, 2007), Mr. Navin Mittal (Collector, Krishna, 2007), Mr. Sampath Kumar (Jt. Collector, Krishna, 2005), Mr. Sundara Raju (Distirct Revenue Officer, Krishna, 2005), and the language interpreters Mr. Victor Paul, Mr. Vellumani, Mr. Sadan, Ms. Someshwari, Mr. Trinadha Reddy, and Mr. Srinivasan, all of whom provided invaluable support and assistance at various stages of the fieldwork, as well as many respondents who had warmly welcomed her in their homes and gave their time for answering her questions. This research was made possible through support from the US National Science Foundation’s cooperative agreement with Carnegie Mellon University (SBR-9521914); Advanced Institute on Vulnerability to Global Environmental Change, a program funded by the David and Lucille Packard Foundation and coordinated by START in partnership with IIASA; and the postdoctoral program at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. Any remaining errors of fact or analysis in the paper are those of the authors.

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  1. International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Schlossplatz 1, 2361, Laxenburg, Austria

    Upasna Sharma & Anthony Patt

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  1. Upasna Sharma
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  2. Anthony Patt
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Correspondence to Upasna Sharma.

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Sharma, U., Patt, A. Disaster warning response: the effects of different types of personal experience. Nat Hazards 60, 409–423 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-011-0023-2

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