Tornado Damage Mitigation: Homeowner Support for Enhanced Building Codes in Oklahoma

Area of Science:

• Disaster mitigation
• Public policy
• Risk perception

Background:

• Tornadoes cause significant societal costs.
• Building code enhancements can reduce these costs by over 30%.
• Despite benefits, few US cities adopt stringent tornado-resistant building codes.

Purpose of the Study:

• Examine homeowner support for stricter building codes in Oklahoma.
• Identify factors influencing support for mandatory tornado mitigation policies.
• Analyze the interplay of risk perception and socio-political worldviews on policy adoption.

Main Methods:

• Utilized survey data from Oklahoma homeowners.
• Analyzed push dynamics (risk data, perception, experience) and pull dynamics (worldviews, climate skepticism).
• Assessed the relative influence of these dynamics on policy support.

Main Results:

• Support for mitigation policies is influenced by competing factors.
• Individualistic and conservative worldviews, alongside climate skepticism, reduce support.
• Objective risk data and personal experience increase support, but less effectively.

Conclusions:

• Pull dynamics (worldviews) currently outweigh push dynamics (risk awareness).
• Weak support is insufficient to overcome status quo bias in regulatory-averse populations.
• Strategies are needed to shift public opinion and facilitate code adoption.