Predictors for evacuation prior to disasters caused by natural hazards
Citation: Thompson RR, Garfin DR, Silver RC. Evacuation from natural disasters: a systematic review of the literature. Risk Analysis. 2017;37(4):812-39.
Language: Abstract and full text available in EN.
Free to view: No.
Funding sources: Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (USA).
What is this? In this systematic review, the authors searched for peer-reviewed, quantitative studies that examined predictors for evacuation behaviour. They searched in March 2016 and restricted their findings to studies published in English. The authors included 83 articles, 71 of which were from the USA. Most of the publications studied hurricanes or cyclones.
What was found: Several factors predicted evacuation behaviour prior to a disaster caused by natural hazards. These included risk perception, past experiences, and demographic factors, such as female sex, younger age, and white ethnicity. The credibility of the source from which warnings came and the strength of government evacuation orders also influenced the decision to evacuate.
Implications: The authors of the review stated that their findings can inform the design of more effective pre-disaster evacuation warnings and procedures. Future research is needed to better understand the relationship between prior exposure to disasters and evacuation behaviour, and psychological factors that may influence evacuation decisions.
Other considerations: The authors of the review discussed some of their findings in the context of sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, place of residence, and age.
This summary was prepared by Briann Mensour, checked by Jawaria Karim, and finalized by William Summerskill.