Comparing the spatial patterns of earthquake disaster probability and individual risk perception: a case study of Yongkang Township in Tainan, Taiwan

During major earthquake disasters, a lack of preparedness on the part of both officials and citizens can result in serious injuries and fatalities. Indeed, due to the unequal distribution of responsibility, decision-making processes differ sharply between disaster management planners and the general population. Although the potential relationship between earthquake risk perception and adjustment behavior remains subject to debate, humans are indeed capable of responding to disasters and further reducing their risk. Previous discussions emphasized engineering or seismological efforts to mitigate earthquake disaster while attributing less responsibility to government preparedness and individuals’ subjective resilience, although both of these could place people at greater risk of earthquake damage. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore and compare the spatial patterns of earthquake disaster probability, subjective resilience, and governmental preparedness. The results show that there are significantly unequal distributions of both subjective resilience on the part of citizens and low preparedness on the part of officials, which might result in serious impacts in a future earthquake disaster. In particular, it is imperative that subjective resilience and governmental preparedness be increased in the northern and southern regions along the Houchiali Fault.