Community and psychological barriers to tsunami preparation

Tsunami risk was investigated as a platform for helping to understand the impact of community and psychological factors in natural disaster preparedness. Residents who lived within four meters of sea level in high and moderate tsunami risk areas of Vancouver Island were queried about possible influences on their preparation. Both community-level and psychological factors played significant roles. More community participation and fewer justifications for not preparing (the dragons of inaction) directly predicted reported preparation. The relation between sense of community and preparation was mediated by the level of community participation, and the relation between positive outcome expectancy and preparation was mediated by the dragons of inaction. Together, the resulting model accounted for 21% of the variance in reported tsunami preparation. Policy implications are discussed.