Perceptions of cyclone preparedness: assessing the role of individual adaptive capacity and social capital in the Wet Tropics, Australia
Sandanam, Anuska, Diedrich, Amy, Gurney, Georgina G., and Richardson, Tristam D. (2018) Perceptions of cyclone preparedness: assessing the role of individual adaptive capacity and social capital in the Wet Tropics, Australia. Sustainability, 10 (4).
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Abstract
Given projections of future climate-related disasters, understanding the conditions that facilitate disaster preparedness is critical to achieving sustainable development. Here, we studied communities within the Wet Tropics bioregion, Australia to explore whether people’s perceived preparedness for a future cyclone relates to their: (1) perceived individual adaptive capacity (in terms of flexibility and capacity to plan and learn); and (2) structural and cognitive social capital. We found that people's perceived cyclone preparedness was only related to their perceived individual flexibility in the face of change. Given that people's perceived cyclone preparedness was related to individualistic factors, it is plausible that individualism-collectivism orientations influence people's perceptions at an individual level. These results suggest that in the Wet Tropics region, enhancing people’s psychological flexibility may be an important step when preparing for future cyclones. Our study highlights the need to tailor disaster preparedness initiatives to the region in question, and thus our results may inform disaster risk management and sustainable development policies.
| Item ID: | 53356 |
|---|---|
| Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
| ISSN: | 2071-1050 |
| Keywords: | climate change; climate related disasters; disaster risk management; sustainable development; perceived disaster preparedness; cyclones; sustainability; adaptive capacity; place attachment; social capital |
| Additional Information: | This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Funders: | James Cook University, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies |
| Date Deposited: | 01 May 2018 04:37 |
| FoR Codes: | 41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4199 Other environmental sciences > 419999 Other environmental sciences not elsewhere classified @ 40% 44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4410 Sociology > 441002 Environmental sociology @ 30% 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5205 Social and personality psychology > 520505 Social psychology @ 30% |
| SEO Codes: | 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9603 Climate and Climate Change > 960301 Climate Change Adaptation Measures @ 50% 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9603 Climate and Climate Change > 960307 Effects of Climate Change and Variability on Australia (excl. Social Impacts) @ 50% |
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