Is Urban Household Emergency Preparedness Associated with Short-Term Impact Reduction after a Super Typhoon in Subtropical City?
by
Emily Ying Yang Chan 1,2,*
, Asta Yi Tao Man 1, Holly Ching Yu Lam 1, Gloria Kwong Wai Chan 1, Brian J. Hall 3 and Kevin Kei Ching Hung 4
Emily Ying Yang Chan 1,2,*, Asta Yi Tao Man 1, Holly Ching Yu Lam 1, Gloria Kwong Wai Chan 1, Brian J. Hall 3 and Kevin Kei Ching Hung 4
1
Collaborating Centre for Oxford University and CUHK for Disaster and Medical Humanitarian Response (CCOUC), The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
2
Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX37BN, UK
3
Global and Community Mental Health Research Group, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Macau, Macao, China
4
Accident & Emergency Academic Unit, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(4), 596; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16040596
Received: 31 January 2019 / Revised: 13 February 2019 / Accepted: 14 February 2019 / Published: 19 February 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health-Related Emergency Disaster Risk Management (Health-EDRM))
Climate change-related extreme events are increasing in frequency and severity. Understanding household emergency preparedness capacity in Health-Emergency and Disaster Risk Management (Health-EDRM) for at risk urban communities is limited. The main objective of the study is to explore the association among risk perception, household preparedness, and the self-reported short-term impacts of Typhoons for urban residents. A population-based, cross-sectional telephone survey using random digit-dialling was conducted among Hong Kong adults within 2 weeks following 2018 Typhoon Mangkhut, the most intense typhoon that affected Hong Kong, a subtropical city, in thirty years. Among the 521 respondents, 93.9% and 74.3% reported some form of emergency preparedness and typhoon-specific preparedness measure (TSPM) against Mangkhut, respectively. Respondents who perceived a higher risk at home during typhoons and had practiced routine emergency preparedness measures (during nonemergency periods) were more likely to undertake TSPM. Of the respondents, 33.4% reported some form of impact (11.1% were household-specific) by Typhoon Mangkhut. Practicing TSPM was not associated with the reduction of short-term household impacts. Current preparedness measures may be insufficient to address the impact of super typhoons. Strategies for health-EDRM for urban residents will be needed to cope with increasing climate change-related extreme events.
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Keywords:
typhoon; hurricane; cyclone; strong wind levels; natural disaster; Health-EDRM; household preparedness; urban; climate change related extreme events; subtropical city
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Chan, E.Y.Y.; Man, A.Y.T.; Lam, H.C.Y.; Chan, G.K.W.; Hall, B.J.; Hung, K.K.C. Is Urban Household Emergency Preparedness Associated with Short-Term Impact Reduction after a Super Typhoon in Subtropical City? Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 596.
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