2134/38364
Susanna Goodall
Susanna
Goodall
Tom Dijkstra
Tom
Dijkstra
Ksenia Chmutina
Ksenia
Chmutina
X.M. Meng
X.M.
Meng
Cultural perceptions of hazard and risk in a dynamic environment
Loughborough University
2019
Geohazard
Risk perception
Culture
Dynamic environment
Built Environment and Design not elsewhere classified
2019-07-19 10:11:56
Conference contribution
https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/conference_contribution/Cultural_perceptions_of_hazard_and_risk_in_a_dynamic_environment/9432401
In the Bailong River corridor, Gansu, China, an estimated 1.7 million people are
threatened by geohazards including earthquakes, landslides and debris flows, flooding
and extreme rainfall. The area is also undergoing rapid economic growth and
infrastructure development. This paper reports on recent work exploring the physical
and social systems and their interactions, and highlights the need for further multidisciplinary research required to better understand human-landscape interactions in
such dynamic environments. Knowledge of geohazard processes (including responses
to rainfall, mapping of susceptibility, monitoring and triggering conditions for disaster
events) and their interactions with society is advancing, but there is still much further
work required to better understand how people living with risk perceive and adapt to
their environment. Perceptions of risk are contextual, and influenced by culture and
worldview; while society and culture may also be shaped by hazards, for example in
the local knowledge and coping mechanisms which reduce risk. There is a need to
answer questions such as how perceptions compare with scientifically-derived
conclusions about hazard and risk? And can they inform policy that will reduce disaster
risk?