An investigation into householders' motivation to prepare for cyclones in Oman

An investigation into householders' motivation to prepare for cyclones in Oman

Cyclones pose a considerable threat to the people who live in Oman, largely because this country is adjacent to the Arabian Sea where cyclones often originate. Research shows that being prepared helps to reduce the impact of cyclones. This study aimed to investigate the level of householders’ preparedness for cyclones in Oman, an important topic that has not yet been researched comprehensively. The head of household often bears the greatest responsibility for protecting his/her household members. Thus, only the householders (head of the household) were considered as respondents in this research. The study applied the Protective Action Decision Model (PADM) and determined the influence of community bondedness and cyclone experience on psychological factors. The research also identified the influence of psychological factors on the level of physical and psychological preparedness. Furthermore, the study examined the influence of householders’ characteristics (total monthly income of the household, level of education, household size, homeownership) on psychological factors (e.g., hazard intrusiveness, risk perception and affective responses and fatalism). The study was based on a mixed methods design through adopting a sequential exploratory approach. For the qualitative phase of the research, the study selected 15 respondents from the six districts in the Muscat Governorate, using semi-structured interviews as the data collection instrument. The study used NVivo 12 for thematic analysis to analyse the qualitative data. The quantitative phase of the research used the stratified sampling technique to select 420 participants from the six districts in the Muscat Governorate. Based on the qualitative analysis results, the quantitative instrument took the form of a questionnaire with a five-point Likert scale for collecting quantitative data. Descriptive statistics were utilised to analyse the quantitative data, while structural equation modelling (SEM) with SPSS AMOS software was employed to examine the structural relationship and test the study’s hypothesis. Qualitative analysis revealed key themes including risk perceptions, religiosity, community ties, and prior cyclone experiences as factors influencing household preparedness. These factors were studied quantitatively. 322 participants completed the questionnaires. The results revealed that the factors identified had a significant impact on preparedness. SEM identified community belonging and past cyclone exposure as the most robust predictors of preparedness levels, while risk beliefs showed negligible effects.

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