Pilot Implementation Results From a Community-Based Flood Resilience Exercise to Improve Individual Disaster Preparedness

Abstract

Natural disasters fueled by climate change will exacerbate existing health disparities and marginalize affected communities. This process manifests as the extreme weather–climate gap, underscoring the critical importance of preventive and resilience-focused interventions in these communities. This study examines the effectiveness of a pre-post implementation study with a voluntary in-person disaster preparedness exercise on a sample of 106 participants. This exercise involved educating participants on disaster preparedness and a participatory mapping exercise to better understand perceptions about disaster risk. Survey constructs include social resources, social capital, perceived susceptibility, perceived stress, and self-efficacy. Adoption of the target disaster preparedness behavior was evaluated quantitatively using logistic regression. The probability of adopting the disaster preparedness behavior was higher among participants who attended the disaster exercise for three of the four preparedness outcomes and was highest for knowing where to find resources (29 percentage points). Social capital was associated with a decreased probability of having a disaster plan, suggesting it may have an unexpected impact on disaster preparedness by fostering an inflated sense of support. Perceived susceptibility was associated with an increased probability of having an emergency bag and knowing where to find resources following the exercise. The short implementation that included an active learning exercise was associated with changing risk perceptions toward flood disasters, having an emergency bag in the event of a disaster, and knowing where to find critical resources. Barriers to achieving in-person participation including work or family limitations should be addressed for larger-scale implementations.