Measuring individual disaster preparedness

This Risk and Resilience Report provides an overview of recent individual preparedness research. The report discusses a broad variety of indicators that can help to measure individual disaster preparedness and explores the data availability of these indicators for Switzerland.

The report highlights existing gaps in the preparedness literature with regards to empirical evidence for the composition and effectiveness of emergency supply kits, as well as the specific challenges of suburban contexts.

Recommendations for future analyses include:

• individual preparedness actions and public communication in the early phase of the ongoing COVID-​19 crisis to highlight the dynamics of disaster-related demand shocks;
• an evaluation of smartphones’ potential for digitizing disaster preparedness tools, such as hazard maps, flashlights, radios and language translation apps; research into the positive and negative impacts of the sharing economy on access to cars, housing and tools during disasters; and
• an ethnography of people that make individual disaster preparedness part of their identity and lifestyle, as well as their potential engagement for social innovation in areas such as emergency supply kits.