Emergency response volunteers’ flood risk perception under climate change and flood hazard and risk maps acceptance behavior : a comparative study between Baden-Württemberg, Germany, and Guangdong, China

Abstract

Emergency response volunteers (ERV) are considered as one of the most important groups in emergency management. With a combination of local experience as well as skills and knowledge from training regarding emergency response, ERV can rapidly respond to local emergencies by participating in rescue and relief work. Floods are among the most frequent natural hazards in both Germany and China, and ERV often face risk during their flood emergency response operations. The response of volunteers to flood risk is important for the safety of their lives and performance during flood emergency response operations. In this thesis, based on an online survey of 580 respondents (including 382 from Germany and 198 from China) conducted among emergency response volunteers from Baden- Württemberg state in Germany and Guangdong province in China, three flood risk related topics are explored: First, to answer the question “How different is flood risk perception among emergency response volunteers between Germany and China and what are the factors that significantly influence flood risk perception?”, by using data collected from the survey, multiple regression and bootstrapping analysis were applied. The results show that direct experience with floods, physical location, trust in the authorities, and training are important factors affecting volunteers’ risk perception. It is found that volunteers in Germany show a higher level of controllability of flood risk compared to China. Meanwhile, volunteers in China exhibit more worry about the adverse consequence of floods, including financial loss and personal injury. The second topic investigates how the perceived impact of climate change on flood risk by ERV is influenced by previous flood experience and perceived flood risk, and how it is associated with climate change perceptions. By using multiple regression and mediation analysis, the results show that when ERV perceive higher local flood risk, they tend to believe that climate change will have a more significant effect on local flood risk. In addition, three aspects of climate change perceptions (perceived local vulnerability, uncertainty over climate change, and perceived effect of climate change mitigation actions) are affected by physical location and the perceived impact of climate change on flood risk. The third topic aims to detect the factors influencing the acceptance intention of online flood hazard and risk maps, which are useful risk communication tools for emergency planning and response. An extended Technology Acceptance Model incorporated four external constructs (Information quality, Trust in information, Internet self-efficacy, and Enthusiasm of new information technology) was applied to explain and predict the acceptance behavior intention. By using the Structural Equation Model - Artificial Neural Network approach for hypotheses testing, the main findings indicate that Perceived Usefulness and Trust in information are essential factors of the intention to accept flood maps in both countries. As few studies focusing on emergency response volunteers regarding flood risk in both Germany and China were conducted, this thesis fills this gap and provides insights for future risk communication and management concerning flood hazards and climate change.