Measuring Gender-Based Risk Perception in Multi-Hazard Areas of Pakistan

Abstract

The elementary step to tackling disaster risk is to understand the risk perception of inhabitants, which might assist in determining how likely someone is to prepare for calamities. Risk perception is considered a vital agent for the preparedness strategies of disaster risk reduction. The most vital requirement of multi-hazard areas is to improve management strategies based on the risk perception of inhabitants. This study aims to assess how university students perceive risk in the multi-hazardous area of Muzaffarabad in Pakistan. The components used to measure risk perception were fear, awareness, behavior, and trust. A detailed review of the literature was used to identify the indicators, and an index-based method was used to calculate the overall risk perception. A structured survey method was used to collect data on the students' perceptions based on gender. Chi-square and Student's t-tests were used to determine how male and female students perceive the risk of different hazards. The results have shown that university students have different perceptions of risk regarding hazards. The study indicates that gender-specific disaster risk management techniques are crucial for effective and inclusive response and readiness strategies among male and female students in multi-hazard locations.