A Broadly Applicable Warning Response Index: Cross-Hazard Validation for Enhanced Early Warning Communication

Area of Science:

• Disaster Risk Reduction
• Community Resilience
• Communication Science

Background:

• Multi-hazard early warning systems (MHEWS) are crucial for disaster risk reduction and community resilience.
• Challenges in warning dissemination and communication (WDC) limit the effectiveness of MHEWS.
• Existing measures inadequately capture the gap between warning response intention and actual protective actions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a broadly applicable instrument, the Warning Response Index (WRI), for assessing WDC effectiveness.
• To examine the reliability, validity, and dimensional structure of the WRI.
• To investigate the intention-action gap in protective behaviors.

Main Methods:

• Development and validation of the Warning Response Index (WRI).
• Analysis of data from two surveys (n=1580).
• Examination of internal consistency, dimensional structure, and predictive validity of the WRI.

Main Results:

• The WRI demonstrated a stable multidimensional structure with high reliability and validity across various hazard types.
• The translation of warning response intentions into protective actions was found to be weak, especially during extreme weather.
• The WRI more effectively predicted overall WDC effectiveness compared to unidimensional measures.
• Conventional measures failed to adequately capture the intention-action gap.

Conclusions:

• The WRI is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing WDC effectiveness in MHEWS.
• Addressing the intention-action gap is critical for improving MHEWS outcomes.
• Future WDC strategies should be tailored to message and recipient characteristics to enhance protective actions.