The community's sense of disaster risk perception and preparedness; Kocaeli province example

Throughout history, disasters have caused tremendous loss of life and property damages all around the world. Planned implementation of preparatory and loss reduction activities are the most effective way for reducing the damages. Understanding the disaster risk perception by individuals is the initial step of the preparatory works. Improving the sense of risk knowledge will lead the people to prepare the society for disasters. This study aimed to analyze the connection between disaster risk perception and preparedness levels of the individuals living in Kocaeli province with the general screening model. 483 individuals who aged 18 years and over in Kocaeli province are the participants used in the model. The sampling strategy was specified by simple random sampling method and a new scale was developed as a data collection tool. Statistical program was used to analyze the data. Arithmetic mean, frequency distribution and percentage values were calculated. One-way analysis of variance and independent sample t-test were used to compare the averages. Simple linear correlation analysis were used for the analysis of relations. According to the results obtained from this study, the risk perception level of participants was high (3.97), the level of preparation was moderate (2.74). A significant positive linear relationship between risk perception and preparedness level were also identified. Keywords: Disaster, Disaster Risk Perception, Disaster Preparedness