The Role of Risk Perception on Risk Mitigation Behaviors (Case Study: Earthquake in Tehran)

Urban disaster management authorities should be aware of the factors affecting household risk management. This knowledge allows them to expect higher participation and higher percentage of implementation of their programs. The current research examines the role of risk perception as a mediator. It is assumed that the independent variables have both direct and indirect (through a mediator) effects on the dependent variable (risk mitigation behaviors). A field study was conducted in Tehran, where, recently a destructive earthquake has been announced by Geologist. The study was carried out in the areas which there are several fault lines in the north, east and west sides of the city from March until the end of April 2014. A set of questionnaire with a sample size of 264 was used.
The result of the study demonstrated that there was not a significant relationship between risk perception and actual behaviors of risk mitigation, however, the relationship between risk perception and intention to do risk mitigation behavior was significant. Results of mediator model through Sobel test indicated that the mediator variable of risk perception plays as a mediator for 3 variables of need to be protected, ooptimistic bias, and controllability (Sobel test