ABC News, August 2024
South-East Asia is one of the most disaster-prone areas in the world, but a new study shows people living there feel more prepared than most in the face of disaster. Roughly two-thirds of people surveyed from the region believe they could protect themselves and their families from a future disaster like a tsunami or earthquake, the World Risk Poll found. The global study of people’s perceptions and experiences of risk and safety was conducted in 2023 by global analytics firm Gallup and commissioned by the global safety charity Lloyd’s Register Foundation. It surveyed 1,000 respondents above the age of 15 across 142 countries.
In response to survey questions, people from South-East Asia scored highly in preparedness, household planning and feelings of agency when it came to disasters. People in North America, which is significantly less disaster-prone, had similar results to South-East Asia for rates of household disaster plans (60 per cent) and individual feelings of agency (67 per cent), according to the research. “Broadly speaking, the wealthier the country, the higher it scores on the World Risk Poll Resilience Index,” said Gallup research consultant Benedict Vigers, who worked on the survey. But South-East Asia bucked the trend, he said. The World Risk Poll Resilience Index measured resilience in four categories: individual, household, community and societal.
