Friends and family vs. government: who does the public rely on more to prepare for natural disasters?

ABSTRACT

This paper examines what organizations and groups individuals rely on to help prepare for natural disasters and how reliance differs vis-à-vis demographic characteristics. Using data gathered from 2,008 individuals employed in the United States, the results revealed that individuals are significantly more likely to rely on friends and family than government organizations at the local, state, and federal level. The findings also suggest that this reliance varies across demographic groups. For example, data from the present study suggest that women and minority groups as well as individuals who are older and less educated are significantly more likely to rely on organizations to help prepare for natural disasters. This study contributes to the disaster management and risk communication literatures by offering key insights into the organizations and groups the American public in general, and certain demographic groups in particular, rely on when it comes to preparing for natural disasters. Knowledge about the organizations and groups that individuals rely on to help prepare for natural disasters can help policymakers and practitioners target those organizations as conduits to deliver critical preparedness information, as well as other information related to disaster mitigation, response, and recovery.

KEYWORDS:

• Disaster preparedness
• reliance
• friends and family
• government
• Federal Emergency Management Agency

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The completion rate was calculated by dividing the 2008 responses by the sum of 2026 known eligible cases and 2192 estimated eligible cases among the 5480 who did not respond to the invitations (assuming an estimated eligibility rate of 40%, based on the eligibility rate of the 5079 respondents).

2 Mean reliance was measured by adding the reliance values for all six organizations and dividing the total by six.