Studying the Role of Personality Traits on the Evacuation Choice Behavior Pattern in Urban Road Network in Different Severity Scales of Natural Disaster

Abstract

The study of evacuation behavior in response to disaster is necessary for emergency traffic management. As decision-making is not exclusively dependent on observable variables, in this research, it is attempted to study the evacuation choice behavior pattern in emergency response to earthquake disaster by considering both physical and behavioral factors. Personality traits are measured as behavioral latent factors by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the short form of NEO-Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). A revealed preference survey with more than 700 samples was conducted in Qazvin city (Iran) which was based on real-life earthquake experience and the stated preference survey was conducted for six designated scenarios with different severities and times of earthquakes. Analysis of evacuation behavior is conducted by 3 types of discrete choice models (traditional binary logit model (TBLM), hybrid binary logit model (HBLM), and random parameters/mixed binary logit model (MBLM)). First, TBLM is estimated to study the effect of observable variables on response of people to earthquake disaster. Then, by adding the personality traits to modeling structure and constructing HBLM, the correct prediction percentage of the model increased. This study also considers heterogeneous mixtures of population in terms of income, family size, and five factors of personality traits by MBLM. The MBLM captures the heterogeneous responses of the respondent. By considering these variables as random parameters, the Log Likelihood function and pseudo square (ρ2) of the model increased.

Dual disasters: Seismic evacuation decision-making during COVID-19 lockdown: A case study of Luding earthquake, Sichuan Province

“…The study has also hypothesized that education and homeownership would positively affect EDMM; however, the findings could not confirm the existence of any association between the mentioned variables. In addition, a significant negative association was observed between household size and evacuation decision-making, which contradicts the findings of some studies (Mohajeri and Mirbaha, 2021); however, no association has been detected between household size and risk assessment and identification. The study has also found that job categories correlate with the residents' risk assessment and evacuation choice.…”

“…On the other hand, risk assessment and risk mitigation/ reduction strategies are highly dependent on gender since females were more likely to highly assess the earthquake risks and decide to evacuate, possibly due to gender differences in social roles and evacuation motivations. Although some studies did not find a significant direct relationship between age and gender and disaster risk perception ( Kellens et al, 2012 ; Lazo et al, 2010 ), this research demonstrated that the impact of gender and age on the EDMM is consistent with the findings of the study by some studies ( Lazo et al, 2015 ; Mohajeri and Mirbaha, 2021 ). Marital status has only negatively affected the residents' evacuation behavior, as married people were less willing to evacuate and could partially confirm the research's hypothesis; however, this finding is contrary to the outcomes of a study by Mohajeri et al ( Mohajeri and Mirbaha, 2021 ).…”

“…Although some studies did not find a significant direct relationship between age and gender and disaster risk perception ( Kellens et al, 2012 ; Lazo et al, 2010 ), this research demonstrated that the impact of gender and age on the EDMM is consistent with the findings of the study by some studies ( Lazo et al, 2015 ; Mohajeri and Mirbaha, 2021 ). Marital status has only negatively affected the residents' evacuation behavior, as married people were less willing to evacuate and could partially confirm the research's hypothesis; however, this finding is contrary to the outcomes of a study by Mohajeri et al ( Mohajeri and Mirbaha, 2021 ). Although we expected that individuals being accompanied by vulnerable groups at the time of the earthquake might positively affect earthquake risk assessment while having a negative correlation with the residents' evacuation choice, a different pattern of association was observed in the presence of children at the time of the earthquake and the residents' risk perception which is consistent with findings by Murray-Tuite et al ( Murray-Tuite et al, 2012 ).…”

Students' evacuation behavior during an emergency at schools: A systematic literature review

“…This study aimed to provide a consolidated thematic framework of the studies in the domain of students' evacuation behavior during schooltime. Simultaneously, the emergency reaction significantly differs based on the individuals' age and the content of the emergency [7,97,98]. This research attempted to provide a comprehensive understanding of students' evacuation behavior and applied methodologies.…”