Risk Area Residents’ Perceptions and Adoption of Seismic Hazard Adjustments¹

Abstract

Residents of 2 geographical regions—one with a high seismic hazard and the other with a moderate seismic hazard—rated 16 hazard adjustments on 7 attributes and reported their adoption intention and actual adoption of those adjustments. There were only small and generally nonsignificant differences between the 2 locations in adjustments’ attribute ratings, adoption intention, and actual adjustment, but there were significant differences among adjustments on all of these measures. Perceptions of hazard‐related adjustment attributes were correlated significantly with adoption intention and actual adjustment, but perceptions of resource‐related attributes were not.