Data on Local Responses to Early Warning Communications on Flood Prevention in Northern Ghana

This data was collected from households with experience of flood hazards and disaster in northern Ghana using interviews and focus group discussions. It comprises both quantitative and qualitative responses from householders, seeking to measure the relationship between early warning communications and local responses to flood risk prevention. There are questions on households' knowledge of early warning communication systems, strategies and channels, households prior exposure to floods, the types of local actions adopted to mitigate flood risk and the nature of post-reconstructions interventions they have been part of. We set out to test the relationship between flood experience and households risk response behaviour using multivariate logistic regressions and bi-variate analysis such as chi-square. We found that flood experience significantly impacted the risk response adopted by householders. Similarly, the emotional state of households significantly influenced the local actions to prevent flood risk. Among the early warning communication channels adopted by disaster authorities, local FM radio proved to be more effective on the decisions of households relative to the adoption of risk mitigation measure. Despite this, based on data from 68 households and 6 separate focus groups, we found that, Early Warning information did not lead to effective local actions in disaster hot spot communities. Households were concerned about loss of properties and lives during flood disasters; nonetheless they were less likely to move away from disaster prone areas, citing factors such as inter-generational belief systems, cost of relocation, soil fertility around the riverbanks and fear of losing ancestral lands.

本数据集通过对北部加纳遭受洪水灾害家庭的访谈和焦点小组讨论收集而成。该数据集包含来自住户的定量和定性回应，旨在衡量预警信息与当地应对洪水风险措施之间的关系。其中涉及住户对预警通信系统、策略及渠道的了解，住户过往的洪水暴露经历，为减轻洪水风险所采取的本地行动类型，以及他们参与的后重建干预措施的性质。本研究旨在通过多元逻辑回归和双变量分析（如卡方检验）测试洪水经历与住户风险响应行为之间的关系。研究发现，洪水经历显著影响了住户采取的风险响应措施。同样，住户的情感状态对预防洪水风险的本地行动产生了显著影响。在灾害管理机构采用的预警通信渠道中，当地FM广播在影响住户采取风险缓解措施决策方面显示出更高的有效性。尽管如此，基于68户家庭和6个独立焦点小组的数据，我们发现，预警信息并未导致灾害热点社区采取有效的本地行动。住户对洪水灾害中财产和生命的损失表示担忧；然而，他们不太可能离开灾害易发区域，原因包括代际信仰体系、搬迁成本、河岸附近的土壤肥力和对失去祖传土地的恐惧。