Predicting evacuation in two major disasters: Risk perception, social influence, and access to resources

The complex and somewhat bewildering phenomenon of why people sometimes dec ide not to evacuate from a dangerous situation is influenced by a combinati on of individual characteristics and 3 basic social psychological processes : (a) risk perception, (b) social influence, and (c) access to resources. T his study used a combined sample of 777 adults interviewed after Hurricanes Hugo and Andrew. Although numerous variables significantly predicted evacu ation, much variance in this behavior still remained unexplained. Different population subgroups gave different reasons for not evacuating (e.g., seve reness of storm, territoriality). A multifaceted and tailored approach to b oth individuals and communities is needed; a simple warning is often not en ough.