TITLE:
Household and Community Disaster Preparedness in Japanese Provincial City: A Population-Based Household Survey
AUTHORS:
Jun Tomio, Hajime Sato, Yuji Matsuda, Toshie Koga, Hiroko Mizumura
KEYWORDS:
Disaster Preparedness, Community, Household, Population-Based Study, Japan
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Anthropology,
Vol.4 No.2,
May
21,
2014
ABSTRACT: Household-
and community-level preparedness have been re-emphasized after recent major
earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan. The paper examines the prevalence and the
determinants of disaster preparedness among the residents of a provincial city
in Japan at both levels. Furthermore, it seeks to uncover the associations
between household- and community-level preparedness activities to test the
hypothesis that a complementary relationship exists between them. We used a
subset of a population-based household questionnaire survey of 4000 randomly
sampled households in Komoro City in the Nagano Prefecture of Japan in February
and March of 2011. The questionnaire included specific questions to measure
disaster the preparedness status at both the household and community levels.
The characteristics and associations of household- and community-level
preparedness were analyzed with multivariable logistic regression models. We
found insufficient disaster preparedness at both household and community
levels. Older, female, and better educated household heads were associated with
better household preparedness, while length at residence, non-single status,
presence of an elderly household member, and farming occupations were
associated with better community preparedness. Households with one or more
household-level preparedness measures were more likely to receive community
assistance than those lacking them. The relationship between household and
community preparedness was not complementary. Hence, a large proportion of the
households were unprepared at both the community and household levels.