Risk Perception and Action to Reduce the Impact of Floods in the Czech Republic
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| Year of publication | 2018 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
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| Description | In the Czech Republic, the increasing impacts of floods in the late twentieth century led local communities and governments to question the usefulness of conventional ways in reducing the risk of disaster. This chapter aims to understand how changes in risk perception and in the disaster management paradigm have influenced the strategies local communities and government use to reduce the risk of floods. It finds that the perception of risk has been changed by coordination between villagers and local governments, the acceptability of local leadership, social capital and social network, community resilience, a sense of community, and by changes in insurance policies. Villagers trust the local government’s efforts to reduce the impacts of floods, and the local government cannot overlook the people’s voice in disaster management measures. Clearly, both risk perception and consciousness of self-responsibility towards society influence people in the Czech Republic to engage in reducing the risk of disaster. |