Disaster preparedness and cultural factors : a comparative study in Romania and Malta
Abstract
This exploratory study investigates the relationships between the disaster preparedness of citizens and cultural factors in Romania and Malta. With regard to methodology, quantitative and qualitative data were collected during two Citizen Summits, which consisted of a real-time survey and focus group discussions. The results point to two specific cultural factors that may bridge this ‘gap’ and be operationalised to enhance people's readiness for a disaster event. In Malta, the findings reveal how community cohesion is altered from a personal to a cultural value, which has the potential to encourage the transformation of preparedness intentions into actual preparedness behaviour. In Romania, meanwhile, the findings highlight the ambivalent aspects of trusting behaviour as a cultural norm on the one hand, and distrust in authorities based on experience and unmet expectations on the other hand. Social media use may reduce this tension between trust and distrust, and thus foster successful disaster risk-related communication.
Citation
Appleby-Arnold , S , Brockdorff , N , Jakovljev , I & Zdravković , S 2021 , ' Disaster preparedness and cultural factors : a comparative study in Romania and Malta ' , Disasters , vol. 45 , no. 3 , pp. 664-690 . https://doi.org/10.1111/disa.12433
Publication
Disasters
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0361-3666Type
Journal article
Description
The research reported in this paper was carried out as part of the CARISMAND project, which has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (2014–20), Grant Agreement Number 653748.Collections
Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.