A study of evacuation behavior during earthquakes

Earthquakes are a hazard in Taiwan and elsewhere. In 1946, for example, a Richter scale 6.1 earthquake caused 556 causalities and damaged more than 4,000 buildings in Sin-hua, Tainan City, Taiwan. This study inves tigates the aspects of resident preferences with respect to earthquake shelters. A questionnaire survey was designed to reflect the viewpoints of respondents in the context of earthquakes, including: (1) factors affecting evacuation behavior, (2) historical street district damage prevention and (3) analysis of evacuation choices. A logistic model for evacuation behavior in major earthquakes is presented, and its significant variables discussed in the context of future urban disaster planning. Keywords Evacuation behavior, logistic regression model, shelter. Language: en