Disaster Risk Perception Regarding Culture and Personality

Abstract

Disasters appear in different ways as a result of dangerous and risky situations. The impact of events that may lead to disasters differs according to societies' risk reduction and preparedness levels. In order for societies to attach importance to risk management activities, it is important that they first perceive the hazards and risks that may lead to disasters in their regions. In this framework firstly, the disaster risk perception scale was developed and then it was tried to reveal whether it is related to culture and personality. The survey was limited to 900 people aged 18 and over living in Muğla and Van provinces in Türkiye. The data were analyzed in LISREL software. It was found that the agreeableness dimension of the personality scale was positively related to all dimensions of disaster risk perception. The conscientiousness dimension of the personality scale was found to be negatively related to the threat dimension of disaster risk perception, and the openness to experience was found to be negatively related to the fatalism dimension of disaster risk perception. No relationship was found between the extraversion dimension of personality and the perception of disaster risk. The uncertainty avoidance dimension of the culture scale was found to be positively correlated with the anxiety and controllability dimensions of disaster risk perception. No relationship was found between the collectivism dimension of culture and the perception of disaster risk.