The Evaluation of People’s perception to their risk of hazard .... Flooding

Abstract

This paper is the evaluation of why people perceive there risk to hazard and the
contributing factors to their perceptions. The hazard in the case will be flooding and
the case studies will be Boscastle 2000, Carlisle 2005 and Morpeth 2008. Many
believe that there are certain factors that influence perceptions such as their
environment, education, financial circumstances and gender to name some. There
will be interviews carried out in these three locations. These interviews will be with
the public and professionals (Environment Agency and councils). These interviews
will enable a correlation of data from two different perspectives. It is also important
that these interviews will be person to person to get a more personal perspective of
their experiences. There will also be a detailed review of literature that will be
discuss articles and journals in relating fields not only to flooding but to earthquake
and other natural disasters around the world.
The time line of events is also taken into account as one will be able to see if there
was any progression in how these events were handled by the agencies and if the
mistakes that were made were leaned from or just forgotten and repeated. As time
goes on the way that people perceive there risk from one event to the next also
influences their perception of the next risk and people tend to become complacent
and think that it will not happen again in their lifetime one in seventy five years flood.
With this type of mine set it is making it more difficult for the governing bodies to
better prepare the public for when the next event will happen.