1998 Year of the Ocean Mitigating the Impacts of Coastal Hazards 



EDUCATION, OUTREACH, AND PUBLIC INTEREST 



Links between Hazard Threats and Protective Behavior 



Public interest and education are the most critical elements for succeeding in the overall 

 goal to reduce the impacts of coastal hazards. Unfortunately, there are many complex issues 

 involved in public perceptions about hazards, risks, and disasters. It is important to understand 

 how the public perceives and responds to these topics. Research findings suggest that the links 

 between perceived risk and behavior are particularly complicated. While it is the hazard itself 

 that people respond to in an emergency situation, it is only the risk of the hazard that influences 

 (or does not influence) behavior prior to an event. This is an important distinction in 

 understanding public responses to hazards. While the impacts of actual hazard events or disasters 

 leave the affected public reacting to nature's destructive forces, the threat of a hazard event 

 causes the broader population to struggle with convoluted concepts of risk, probability, and 

 possible consequences. 



The issue can become even more complex depending on the "time horizon" for which 

 people are expected to calculate risks. Even when faced with the threat of an actual storm event, 

 people are often reluctant to heed warnings and protect themselves and their property. There have 

 been many research projects dedicated specifically to studying influences on behavior in a pre- 

 storm environment. These projects evaluate the factors influencing people's decisions to 

 evacuate high risk areas, seek shelter, and take damage precautions for their property. Given the 

 difficulty in convincing the general public of the risks associated with a near term threat, it is not 

 surprising that long term hazard risks are often insignificant factors in individual decision 

 making processes. 



Public Concern for Rising Costs 



The public is genuinely concerned about the costs of major hazard events in terms of 

 deaths and property damages. Disaster costs are skyrocketing, resulting in heightened public 

 awareness. The public's concern about risk on an individual basis, however, is less certain. For 

 example, studies have found that information about the potential for hazards such as earthquakes, 

 coastal erosion, and flooding has little effect on the home selection of buyers. Other 

 considerations such as price, location, size, and amenities are found to be overwhelmingly more 

 important in their decision process. This evidence suggests that concerns about hazard risks at 

 the individual level do not significantly influence the public's choices or behavior. As a result, 

 demand for coastal growth and development is probably not the consequence of indifference to 

 disaster costs, but more likely the outcome of the public's willingness to assume individual risks, 

 even though the cumulative impacts can be catastrophic. 



As population increases in coastal areas and more residents are subjected to the risks of 

 coastal hazards, the link between information and awareness remains an important one. "It is not 

 uncommon to hear people living in a hazardous place — especially if that place is a large urban 

 area — declare that they are free of risk in their location. In urban areas, where there is a greater 



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