The prospect of flooding and the motivation to prepare in contrasting urban communities: A qualitative exploration of Protection Motivation Theory

The number of flood related disasters is predicted to increase with the changing climate. How cities mitigate and prepare for the potential flooding influences the scope and extent of damage, and diminishes the risk of an event turning into a disaster. Preparation or preparedness is, therefore, seen as an important component to flood resilience in cities. This research qualitatively explored the social phenomenon of why some prepare and others do not through the application of Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) in two flood-vulnerable areas of the cities of Hamburg and Dhaka: Wilhelmsburg and Badda (respectively). This exploration utilised semi-structured interviews to collect information on local communities’ flood risk perceptions and flood preparedness. The findings showed that the motivation that the informants had was highly influenced by the amount of prior experience they had had with floods. Where this was high, informants demonstrated a protection motivation that was culturally innate. Theoretical findings provided in depth detail of the components of PMT, and its applicability within flood risk contexts. Although, still further exploration of PMT as an assessment tool of preparedness behaviour in urban-flood-vulnerable communities is recommended, this study has found that it does explain the differences in flood preparedness behaviours in urban communities. In addition its links with both the social system and individual cognitive processes provides insight into the different factors and reasons that influence the preparedness behaviour of urban communities.