Flood disaster risk, sense of place, and preparedness of entrepreneurs in communities along a river

This paper investigated the flood experiences of entrepreneurs in communities along the Ocoy River in Negros Oriental. It further examined the relationships among flood disaster risk perception, sense of place, and flood disaster preparedness of the respondents composed of 36 non-probable samples of owners and managers of enterprises near the river. The face-to-face survey revealed that most had accumulated damage and losses during floods, reinforcing their high flood disaster risk perceptions. But the latter was positively and significantly related to their sense of place score, which suggests a high value they assigned to their communities despite a high flood risk. However, they had a low disaster preparedness score which is not significantly related to flood disaster risk perception and a sense of place. Only place dependence had a positive and significant relationship to flood disaster preparedness which explains their reluctance to relocate their operations. Therefore, as part of enterprises’ formal operational requirements for a business permit, the entrepreneurs must undergo flood disaster preparedness orientation to adapt to climate change.

This study has exposed a behavioral pattern that seemingly deviates from what the literature would usually say about aversive human responses when exposed to potential danger like the impending floods, either leaving or avoiding the place. Their flood disaster risk perception was significantly related to their sense of place which suggests that those who perceived greater risk tend to have a high sense of place. This solid positive link further indicates that the flood threat did not discourage them from going on with their enterprise, perhaps because it would not happen every year and of the same magnitude.