Portugal Natural Hazards Preparedness Survey
Introduction
In March of 2024, Safe Communities Portugal (SCP) developed and launched a survey to solicit feedback from the resident international community regarding preparedness for common natural hazards in Portugal.
The two primary goals of the survey were to 1) get an idea of people’s general level of awareness of and preparedness for natural hazards, and 2) learn what specific information, education, and/or actions people were most interested in regarding natural hazards.
The number of respondents was 714 which well exceeded expectations.
The intent is for SCP to use this information to develop new or refine existing information and education programs, and to share the results with key partners.
Summary of Responses:
1.People are most concerned about these natural hazards:
- Drought (26.9%)
- Wildfire (25.2%)
- Extreme temperatures (17.5%)
- Severe Storms (15%)
- Earthquake (11.7%)
- Tsunami (3.7%)
At the time of the survey, there was significant media coverage of drought, in the Algarve especially.
2. Most people could be more prepared for natural hazards.
With only 12.6% of respondents reporting they feel very well prepared for natural hazards, there is clearly room for SCP and others to provide support to those who want to improve their level of preparedness.
See 9 for the topics people would like to learn more about.
3. The 112 emergency number is correctly seen as the primary number to call in case of an emergency.
4. Most people get natural hazard information from Safe Communities Portugal and government sources.
SCP created and promoted the survey, so it is perhaps no surprise that it ranks the highest of preferred sources of information. It is also an English-language information source, and the majority of respondents indicated that English is their primary language.
5. People believe preparedness is everyone’s responsibility.
6. Most people have taken minimal action to prepare for natural hazards.
Most common actions taken:
- gathered information
- signed up for alerts
Least common actions taken:
- spoken to disaster management representatives in area
- prepared a neighborhood emergency plan
- taken special training
Actions most people plan to take:
- prepare a family emergency plan
- prepared disaster survival kits
7. People are willing to take action to be better prepared, but generally only lower-effort actions.
Most respondents were willing to receive information and instructions about preparedness. Actions that require more interaction, sharing information with neighbors and notifying authorities, were selected less. Actions that require the most effort, participating in training and collecting data, were chosen the least by respondents.
8. Most people want to receive preparedness information via email, text, and social media.
Respondents who used the option to enter their own answer often said that the type of channel they prefer is one that is easy to translate using a translation program/application.
9. People want to learn more about specific preparedness topics.
Respondents were asked to rank six preparedness topics by level of interest. The top three results by a significant margin were:
- Emergency response protocols (what to expect during a disaster incident)
- Preparing homes and gardens for natural hazards
- Wildfire behavior
Conclusion
Safe Communities Portugal extends its gratitude to Kirsten Cook who used her personal background in community outreach regarding disaster preparedness as well as open-source documents available on the internet, to craft the questions for this survey and for analyzing the results. This was the first attempt by Safe Communities Portugal to conduct such a survey and with over 700 recipients this well exceeded expectations.
The survey results have generated suggestions for future action along with additional questions about preparedness and the international community audience that Safe Communities Portugal will be incorporating into future efforts. For example one of the responses to Question 9, “Preparing homes and gardens for natural hazards”, has since been covered by SCP as a feature in a local newspaper..
The results have also been passed to the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC) resulting in a follow up meeting with them.