Abstract:

Several public and private entities have shown a great concern about the probability of the occurrence of a major earthquake in Portugal. Numerous formation and divulgation actions have been promoted to the general population, programmatic contents of compulsory school have added this concern, and specific simulation exercises to the civil protection entities have been undertaken. Nonetheless, the majority of the Portuguese population has never sensed an earthquake, which can lead to a low risk culture, and consequently a high vulnerability of the population in the event of an earthquake [1],[2],[3],[4]. So, it is necessary to evaluate this vulnerability and find ways of reducing it.

The present study has evaluated the student community attending higher education, in different areas of education, with ages higher than 18 years. The study has taken attention to the gender, students and workers, and level of degree (CET, BSc, MSc). The vulnerability was evaluated through more than 9 hundreds of surveys focusing on students of Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, Portugal.

The risk perception survey shows that only 53% of students seem to know how to react to earthquakes. Among other conclusions described in our study, the youngest students seem to know better the adequate safety measures to be taken in case of an earthquake.

The survey results provide interesting conclusions for authorities in charge of risk mitigation, who could then concentrate their preventive information campaign on certain social groups with specific characteristics. Knowledge of appropriate behaviour during an earthquake is crucial for prevention of injury and loss of life. Although it seems to be easy to teach a topic such as earthquake since it has very destructive effects it is very difficult to have the people who has never experienced this phenomenon perceive it in their mind.

Keywords:

Earthquake vulnerability, students’ vulnerability, risk perception.