Education engages people and raises awareness of mitigation actions suggested by governments and experts

The available literature does not provide a unique conclusion regarding the relation between the level of education and perceived risk of natural hazards. While some studies found no correlation between education level, and risk assessment and protective behaviours (Miceli, Sotgiu, & Settanni, 2007), some authors stated that people with higher education are more prone to different protective behaviours in the context of different hazards (Leiserowitz, 2006; Wachinger et al., 2013). Ho and colleagues argued that higher education corresponds to higher level of perceived controllability, regardless of the type of hazard (Ho et al., 2008). The perceived controllability motivates people to engage in different mitigation actions suggested by governments and experts (Ho et al., 2008), such as supporting higher taxes to mitigate climate change process (Leiserowitz, 2006).

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Cultural Factors: Socio-economic status, Attitudes toward environmental issues

Hazards: Natural hazards

Disaster Phases: Prevention

Types of Actors Concerned: Non-active citizens

Recommendations:

• Develop culturally aware disaster preparedness and response training
• Training programmes for citizens of all ages should be developed. These are necessary to increase citizens’ knowledge of and preparedness in case of disasters. The training activities should be organized on the basis of a training strategy and should take various forms, ranging from emergency drill to workshops