Considering socio-cultural factors of disaster risk management

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between factors of socio-cultural contexts and disaster risk. Recent efforts by international organizations and research scholarship have emphasized that applying contextual understandings of human behavior can improve the effectiveness of disaster risk management (DRM).

Design/methodology/approach

The research employs multiple correlation analysis to find significant relationships between two sources of socio-cultural data and the World Risk Index scores.

Findings

There are interesting relationships between various measures of socio-cultural context and disaster risk, such as correlations with levels of individualism, self-expression, and secular-rational values.

Research limitations/implications

While using the broadest sample available with the data sources, generalizations about the relationships must be tempered as inherently anecdotal and needing greater depth of study. The national level of analysis is controversial.

Practical implications

Emergency managers can extend the knowledge about socio-cultural influences on disaster risk to tailor policy for effective practices.

Social implications

Societies may recognize their behaviors as being conducive or obstructive to DRM based on their socio-cultural characteristics; governments may operationalize the findings into policy responses for more nuanced mitigation efforts.

Originality/value

This research adds to the momentum for considering non-technical approaches to DRM and expands the potential for social science derived variables in DRM.

Citation

Kasdan, D.O. (2016), "Considering socio-cultural factors of disaster risk management", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 25 No. 4, pp. 464-477. https://doi.org/10.1108/DPM-03-2016-0055