To assess the public awareness, preparedness and risk perception in relation to fire related disasters

at Centre for study of science, technology &policy

Bangalore

Reg no:31507631038

Name: P.Rajalakshmi

COMPANY ANALYSIS

CSTEP is a private, non profit research corporation. CSTEP performs leading-edge research in issues of science

and technology in human development, economic growth and security.

Initial funding for CSTEP has generously come from the SSN Education and Charitable Trust, with energy-related work continuing to be funded from this source.

In September 2008, CSTEP received a grant from the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, providing funding for our next generation infrastructure laboratory

Research

(i) Solar thermal modeling(ii) Karnataka Esscom evaluation(iii) Bescom new equipment evaluation(iv) IT in power sector(v) Nuclear report(vi) UCG conference(vii) Slum evolution in Bangalore(viii) Disaster management(ix) Innovative India(x) Institutional aspects of infrastructure(xi) Serving the poor to serve rich in health care(xii) Simulation and game development: energy, agricultural

supply chain, industrial clusters

Introduction

Disaster

United Nations defined disasters as a serious

disruption of the functioning of a community or a society causing widespread human, material, economic and environmental losses which exceeds the ability of the affected community /society to cope using its own resources.

Disaster management

Paradigm

Post disaster approach(response + recovery)

Pre-disaster and pro-active efforts (mitigation + preparedness)

Chennai statistics for fire accidents( 2008)

Total fire accidents   Small fire accidents          Medium fire accidents         Serious fire accidents         

17,433 16,444

544

 445

Total rescue calls (non-fire)          10,747

Property lost                          Rs.  53.17 Crores (approximately)

Property saved                              Rs. 446.56 Crores (approximately)

No. of lives lost in fire calls             69

No. of lives saved             139

No. of lives lost in Rescue calls    2,110

No. of lives saved   

Source: www.tnfrs.tn.nic.in

16,088

LITERATURE REVIEW

Research paper on “Awareness of storm surge risk in coastal community on the north sea” by Sonja D. Hofmann, Gunilla Kaiser Karlsruhe university 2007.

Integrated community-based disaster management program in Taiwan: A case study of Shang-A Village

Article of department of civil engineering Anna University “GIS approach for disaster management through awareness” - an overview

Public readiness index –a survey based tool to measure the preparedness of the individual for disasters.(the council for excellence in US government)

Lai&Tao (2003), perception of risk in Chinese people, city university, Hongkong

Brun(1992) karger& wiedemann (1998), perception of natural and environmental risk

NEED FOR THE STUDY

Recently various types of disasters are striking India in general and Chennai in particular. Chennai being densely populated city and highly industrialized, it is more prone to fire related disasters.

Risk perception, knowledge, and experience are the factors, which influence the behaviour in any disaster situation (Kaiser.et al).

Risk awareness, personal preparedness and risk perception seemed to be important parameters in disaster management and it is perceived to be low in Chennai.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of the study is confined to fire related man-made disasters and specific segments of the population of Chennai.

The study focuses on fire related disasters confined to bomb blast & explosion, industrial explosion, fire at home, fire at work place/multi storied building and accidents of vehicles carrying hazardous material.

The specific segments of Chennai population used in this study are students, homemakers, people working in multistoried building, people working in ordinary building and shopkeepers/businessman.

OBJECTIVES

To determine the awareness among the people of Chennai on fire related disaster management.

To determine the preparedness of the people of Chennai on fire related disaster management.

To identify the risk perception of people of Chennai on fire related disasters.

To analyze the factors influencing risk perception of the people of Chennai on fire related disasters.

Conceptual framework

Factors affecting risk perception

Knowledge

Social trust Risk perception Demographic factors

Experience

Source: Lai & Tao

HYPOTHESIS

There is no association between risk perception of people of Chennai on fire related disasters and the trust of people on civil authorities of Chennai.

There is no association between risk perception of people of Chennai on fire related disasters and the experience of people to fire related disasters.

Limitations of the study

The study does not test the awareness of people on industrial explosion.

Only two dimensions of the risk perception of Burn’s risk perception scale is included in this study.

The study is confined to few segments of the population and the sample is not the representative of Chennai population due to time constraint.

The study assumes that the people who knew the preventive measures also knew the causes of the fire related disasters.

The awareness and preparedness of the people are confined to the dimensions mentioned in this study.

Research methodology

RESEARCH DESIGN: Exploratory research

SAMPLING DESIGN:

POPULATION : Chennai city

POPULATION SIZE : 6.4 million (including the suburbs of Chennai)

SAMPLE SIZE : 280

SAMPLING TECHNIQUE : Convenience sampling

PRIMARY DATA

Data collection tool: Questionnaire

SECONDARY DATA Field visit to EMRI The Ready Campaign of the US Department of Homeland Security Unstructured interviews were conducted with Director of Tamil Nadu

fire and Rescue service and various officers of fire service department Chennai.

Manuals of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies.

STATISTICAL TOOLS Chi-square test Descriptive statistics

QUESTIONAIRE DESIGN

The three parts of the questionnaire were

Awareness

Preparedness

Risk perception

AWARENESS

Causes of the fire related disaster

Preventive measures of fire related disasters

Handling disaster situation

First aid

PREPAREDNESS

Equipment

First aid kit

Smoke detector

Fire extinguisher

Resources

Knowing the Emergency service hotline

number

Knowing the Assembling point in multi-

storied building

Training

Fire fighting training (includes first aid

training)

Periodic mock evacuation drill

Operating fire extinguisher

Insurance

Life insurance

Fire insurance for properties

RISK PERCPETION

Dimensions consideredPersonal riskFatality

ExperienceSelf friends and relatives. colleagues and neighbors

Trust

AWARENESSSEGMENT WISE % OF AWARENESS LEVEL OF AWARENESS

HOMEMAKER 26.68 Low

STUDENTS 30.98 Low

PEOPLE WORKING IN MULTI-

STORIED BUILDING

42.66 Low

PEOPLE WORKING IN 33.79 Low

SHOPKEEPERS 28.03 Low

DISASTER WISE

FIRE AT HOME 34.05 Low

FIRE AT MULTI-STORIED BUILDING 31.07 Low

BOMB BLAST& EXPLOSION 27.98 Low

ACCIDENTS OF VEHICLE

CARRYING HAZARDOUS MATERIAL

38.21 Low

OVERALL AWARENESS 32.83 Low

PREPAREDNESSDIMENSION WISE % OF PREPAREDNESS LEVEL OF PREPAREDNESS

EQUIPMENT 52.74 Moderate

RESOURCES 31.13 Low

TRAINING 29 Low

INSURANCE 45.12 Low

SEGMENTWISE

STUDENTS 38.23 Low

PEOPLE WORKING IN MULTI-

STORIED BUILDING

48.01 Low

PEOPLE WORKING IN

ORDINARY BUILDING

38.23 Low

HOMEMAKERS 31.77 Low

SHOPKEEPERS 35.34 Low

OVERALLPREPAREDNESS 39 Low

RISK PERCEPTION INDEX

• Personal risk(0-5)

Low personal risk……………..high personal risk

• Fatality (0-5)

Likely not fatal …………………likely fatal

LEVEL OF RISK PERCPETION RISK PERCEPTION VALUE

HIGH >9

MODERATE =9

LOW <9

Association between risk perception and the socio demographic factors

Factors

influencing

risk

perception

Accidents of

vehicle

carrying

hazardous

material

Industrial

explosion

Fire at multi-

storied

building

Fire at

home

Bomb blast

&explosion

Experience Associated Not

associated

Not

associated

Associated Associated

Trust Not

associated

Associated Associated Associated Associated

DISCUSSION

Awareness

Preparedness

Risk perception

Trust

Experience

Association between risk perception and socio demographic factors

CONCLUSION

The awareness of the people to fire related disaster management was low. The preparedness of the people of Chennai to fire related disasters was also low. These findings suggest that the need for effective and wide spread program for increasing awareness.

The risk perception of the people about the fire related disasters was high.

Further research is needed to find the correlation between various factors influencing risk perception and the risk perception of people to frame effective risk communication strategy.

Further research would also help to guide the public policy concerning disaster awareness and disaster preparedness program.

THANK YOU