Perceptions of Post-Disaster Housing Safety in Future Typhoons and Earthquakes

Casie Venable, Amy Javernick-Will and Abbie B. Liel
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Casie Venable: Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
Amy Javernick-Will: Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
Abbie B. Liel: Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 9, 1-30

Abstract: How residents perceive housing safety affects how structures are designed, built, and maintained. This study assesses the perceptions of housing safety through a survey of over 450 individuals in communities that received post-disaster housing reconstruction assistance following 2013’s Typhoon Yolanda, and that were potentially vulnerable to earthquakes. We analyzed how housing design factors, post-disaster program elements, personal characteristics, and hazard type and exposure influenced safety perceptions. Overall, individuals were most concerned with the safety of their roofs during hazard events and perceived their houses would be less safe in a future typhoon than a future earthquake. Housing material significantly impacted safety perceptions, with individuals in wood houses perceiving their houses to be the least safe. Individuals living in areas more exposed to hazards also perceived their houses to be less safe. Being relocated after the typhoon, witnessing good or bad practices during reconstruction, and prior disaster experience also significantly influenced perceptions of housing safety. These results are used to make recommendations on how implementing organizations can most beneficially intervene with program factors to improve local understanding of housing safety.

Keywords: housing safety; housing characteristics; post-disaster housing; shelter; risk perceptions; typhoon Yolanda; earthquakes; multi-hazard (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:9:p:3837-:d:355547

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