Factors that influence an individual’s decision to evacuate before a hurricane
Citation: Huang S-K, Lindell MK, Prater CS. Who leaves and who stays? A review and statistical meta-analysis of hurricane evacuation studies. Environment and Behavior. 2016;48(8):991-1029.
Language: Abstract and full text available in EN.
Free to view: No.
Funding sources: National Science Foundation (USA).
What is this? In this systematic review, the authors searched for documents that explored the decision to evacuate in the event of hurricanes. They restricted their searches to material written in English between 1991 and 2014. The authors included 49 studies, 11 of which were hypothetical.
What was found: The decision to evacuate before a hurricane was influenced positively by the area of risk, residence in a mobile home, perceived threat, expected personal impact, official warnings, and environmental and social cues. Other variables had weaker or indirect effects. Experience of a previous evacuation that was not necessary did not influence future decisions to evacuate.
Implications: The authors of the review stated that emergency warnings and evacuation plans for hurricanes can be guided by these findings. Additionally, the findings allay concerns that false alarms will influence future evacuations.
Other considerations: The authors of the review discussed some of their findings in the context of place of residence, social capital, and sex.
This summary was prepared by Briann Mensour, checked by Jawaria Karim, and finalized by William Summerskill.