Spatial Effect on Public Risk Perception of Natural Disaster: a Comparative Study in East Asia

Abstract

This paper explores the effect of geographical location on public risk perception of natural disasters. By conducting an identical questionnaire survey across three East Asia countries (China, Japan and South Korea), the paper finds out that different country has its unique structure of risk perception. Generally, the risk perception of sample residents in Japan weakens as the distance from the risk source increases, which indicates Japanese people’s risk perception reflects the actual risk probability. On the other hand, Korean partially and Chinese hardly perceive the probability of existing risks. The findings of this paper imply that risk perception to certain extent relates with existing risk, however, the latter is not always correctly perceived. Economic development, socio-political system, historical and cultural backgrounds will affect public risk perceptions.