Seismic Risk Perception and Seismic Adjustments in Vaslui City, Romania

Abstract

Seismic risk perception is of utmost importance for both prehazard and posthazard time periods because it is linked to the awareness concerning individual preparedness for the impacts of the earthquakes and the adjustments people undertake in order to reduce their vulnerability. Subject to earthquakes originating from the Vrancea Seismic Zone, which lies at the bending of the Carpathian arc, Vaslui City, Romania, distinguishes itself as one where the population generally has a low standard of living, which constitutes a precondition for severe earthquake-induced consequences in terms of human and material loss. This paper aims to examine the seismic risk perceptions of the inhabitants of Vaslui City. The descriptive, correlative, and differential statistical analyses are based on the responses to a questionnaire constructed on sociodemographic elements, building features, seismic risk perception, past relevant experiences, seismic adjustments, survival skills, and recovery process–related levels. The questionnaire was distributed to 311 respondents and conducted through both face-to-face and online surveys from July to September 2019. The survey showed that among respondents who expect to experience a major earthquake during their lifetime, there is also a perception that city-level consequences will be more significant in terms of the human toll and material damage. In Vaslui City, people who anticipate the occurrence of a major earthquake (66.88% of respondents) tend to believe that it will come sooner rather than later (0.53) and would cause medium human losses (0.18) and material damage (0.13) at the city level. Additionally, seismic adjustments are more actively implemented by people who score better in terms of survival skills (0.27), earthquake-related knowledge (0.25), and education in general (0.20). Some alarming issues shown by the survey are that 38.68% of the respondents do not think that they can control the impact of a major earthquake, and that 41.15% of them did not implement any seismic adjustments. These findings may be motivated by the low standard of living, which determines the postponing of such risk reduction–oriented actions.