Safety Threats of Seasonal and Non-Seasonal Natural Disasters Increase Disaster Anxiety and Disaster Risk Perception

Living under the threat of natural disasters affects mental health. Natural disasters that are more likely to occur in a specific season represent a special case that is becoming more frequent with the consequences of climate change. Therefore, they deserve special attention regarding their potentially seasonal mental health implications. We investigated seasonal and non-seasonal natural disasters and levels of exposure in terms of threatened safety in an online survey in Iceland. Among a total of 335 participants, there were 252 participants who had experienced natural disasters in the past or who lived under the threat of natural disasters to happen in their area of residency. We found that all participants who were exposed to natural disasters or their threat to happen had a higher risk perception for natural disasters than the control group, but disaster-related anxiety was increased only among individuals who had their safety threatened because of a natural disaster (p < 0.001). Individuals who lived under the threat of seasonal disasters or who had their safety threatened by seasonal disasters had a lower risk perception for non-seasonal disasters as compared to controls (p < 0.001). There was also an association between the experience of depression-specific seasonal symptoms and disaster anxiety (p < 0.001). The research shows the critical impacts of compromised safety due to natural disasters on risk perception and mental health, but more specifically disaster anxiety, which in turn is related to an increased vulnerability to experience seasonal symptoms.