Evacuation choice before and after major debris flows: The case of Montecito, CA

In 2018, a high magnitude rare debris-flows catastrophically impacted Montecito, resulting in human and material losses. Evacuations for rare natural hazards are complicated as residents have little or no experience with them. Therefore, understanding predictors that influence evacuation choice for these rare debris-flows can help increase evacuation compliance and save lives. The authors employed mixed methods by using surveys and interviews. Data were collected after the disaster and addressed issues of evacuation behavior before and after the disaster. The authors employed Chi-squared, one-way Anova, and logistic regression to analyze the survey data, and the authors coded the interviews. The evacuation choice did not significantly change before and after the disaster. Before the debris-flows, older respondents were more likely to evacuate. After, respondents who were worried about the debris-flows were more likely to evacuate. Residents who did not evacuate before and after the debris-flows based their decision on their home location and perceived risk. Before the debris-flows, impacted residents in the voluntary zone decided to remain due to the location of their residence (voluntary zone) and the influence of their social network. The authors recommend that municipalities carefully consider the type of natural hazard when defining evacuation zones and incorporate public awareness programs to educate and increase risk perception of communities in hazardous areas, especially those threatened by rare natural hazards. In doing so, residents can rely on the knowledge developed in public awareness programs rather than their social network.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102400
• Record URL:
  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212420921003617
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/22124209
• Supplemental Notes:
  • © 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Abstract reprinted with permission of Elsevier.
• Authors:
  • Goto, Erica Akemi
  • 0000-0003-1361-7213
  • Gray, Summer
  • 0000-0003-1661-179X
  • Keller, Edward
  • Clarke, Keith
• Publication Date: 2021-8

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: References;
• Pagination: 102400
• Serial:
  • International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
  • Volume: 62
  • Issue Number: 0
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 2212-4209
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/22124209

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Behavior; Disasters and emergency operations; Evacuation; Mudslides
• Geographic Terms: California
• Subject Areas: Geotechnology; Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01783448
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 28 2021 11:30AM