The role of risk perception, risk communication, and comparative risk principles in resilience building

Abstract

Increasing resilience to earthquakes through choices such as building design requires people to understand, evaluate, and act on risk. Therefore, any communication efforts, either formal or informal, which are aimed at motivating resilience-related decisions should include a consideration of principles of risk perception and risk communication. Decades of research have established numerous factors which influence whether and how people perceive a risk such as a large earthquake. Effective risk communication requires an understanding of these factors as well as principles of communication and hazard-related behaviour generally. Done poorly, risk communication can not only be ineffective, it can also be detrimental to efforts to encourage particular decisions, such as deciding to build for earthquake resilience. A common form of risk communication is the use of comparative risk, where the likelihood and/or impact of one hazard is compared to one or more other hazards. While comparative risk can be a useful way to provide context and aid decision making, it can also easily backfire if used without an understanding of risk perception principles. This paper will present a concise overview of some of these key risk perception principles, basics of risk communication, and perspectives on appropriate use of risk comparisons.