Individual Differences in Movements in Response to Natural Disasters

Natural disasters requiring travel to safety include hurricanes, wildfires, floods, earthquakes, and tsunamis. Computational models and agent-based simulations of disaster evacuation and travel behavior have been developed to help disaster planners; however, these models may entail unrealistic assumptions regarding uniform human behavior. Many of these models assume people travel immediately after a disaster notification and that people travel straight out of the area likely to be affected. The present study provides two examples from Christchurch, New Zealand: a small scale but detailed measure of travel behavior after a real tsunami warning was issued and a larger scale study of self-report of considerations of leaving the city after a major local earthquake. In the tsunami study, 15% of the people actually moved towards the tsunami risk zones, not away. In the second study only 11.7% of the 206 people surveyed indicated thinking of leaving the city and they were significantly more likely to be female and high in trait neuroticism. Individual differences in responses to natural disasters need to be considered in disaster travel models.