Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
be motivated to take preventive actions that re-
sult in decreased personal risk and losses. There
is therefore a need to increase awareness not
just of the probability of floods but also of the
negative
consequences
upon households and
communities, including the length of the recov-
ery process. The role of risk construction, atti-
tudes and perceptions in individual decision-
making behaviour needs to be better understood,
as well as how such a risk behaviour framework
may be used as a tool to formulate effective
response strategies. More effective flood risk com-
munication strategies will also need to be devel-
oped; see Chapter 19 for a discussion on risk
communication.
informing their tenants. Other factors suggested
as being significant in affecting flood risk aware-
ness include: the nature of flood events, local flood
history and institutional factors such as awareness
campaigns, social networks and community
preparedness.
Although there is evidence in England and
Wales of a general increase in flood risk awareness
since 2000 (Defra 2005), very low levels of aware-
ness were reported following the extensive sum-
mer 2007 floods (Pitt 2008). When people
personally take risk-reducing measures it implies
that they are both aware of the risk of being
flooded
and
that they attribute certain signifi-
cance to these measures (Steinfuhrer et al.
2007). Evidence from England (Pitt 2007; GfK
NOP 2007; Norwich Union 2008) and wider
Europe (De Marchi et al. 2007; Steinfuhrer and
Kuhlicke 2007) shows that even though people
may be aware of flood risk this does not mean that
they take actions to prepare themselves, and that
relatively few people take effective individual
damage avoidance measures on receipt of a flood
warning.
There is often a tendency for people to deny
personal flood risk. Although many perceive their
local area to be generally at risk, people do not
necessarily translate that risk to their own prop-
erty (Steinfuhrer and Kuhlicke 2007; Burningham
et al. 2008). All of these perceptions and beha-
viours are related to people's social constructions
and evaluation of the risk (Steinfuhrer et al. 2007).
Shaw et al. (2005) indicate that it is those aware-
ness campaigns that reflect social values and
perspectives that are likely to be the most effec-
tive. Renn (2008) also highlights the closeness in
the connection between knowledge and values;
the stage at which risk is framed and defined will
inevitably involve social values in determining
what risks are socially significant and the setting
of goals. The 'information-deficit' model widely
used by flood risk managers in the past is said
to neglect the socially embedded and contextual-
ized manner in which people make sense of the
world. Risks need to be viewed in the context
of evaluations of local life and the local environ-
ment (Burningham et al. 2008). People must also
Perceptions of home, place and identity
The importance of emotions for risk perception is
beginning to emerge (e.g. Slovic et al. 2002) but
their impact on risk preparedness and response has
as yet received little attention. Emotions are par-
ticularly important when it comes to people's
perceptions of home. Flooding is said to under-
mine such perceptions and people's individual
sense of self and place identity (Fullilove 1996;
Tapsell et al. 1999; Cox and Holmes 2000; Tapsell
and Tunstall 2008). Psychological attachment to
the home can also be a factor in risk denial
(Sime 1997; McCarthy 2004). People have a strong
emotional attachment to their homes, can expe-
rience severe distress when they are damaged, and
have reported feeling less attached to their homes
as a consequence of flooding (Tapsell et al. 1999).
Security in an area as a place to live may also be
lost, thus a place that was once familiar can sud-
denly become unfamiliar and fearful following
flooding, changing people's relationship with
place (Tapsell and Tunstall 2008).
Your home is your haven, you go there when
you've had a bad day. Suddenly it's not there
anymore.
Resident, Gloucester (GfK NOP 2007)
Previous flood experience (and the appreciation
of the impact that this can have on the home and
