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Little is known about how multi-hazard environments affect people, especially those living in urban areas in northern latitudes. This study surveyed homeowners in both Anchorage and Fairbanks, USA, Alaska’s two larger urban centers, to measure individual risk perceptions, mitigation response, and damages related to wildfire, ice hazards, and permafrost thaw. A geospatial hazard assessment informed the survey’s stratified sampling design. The survey had 751 respondents.
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Increasing multi-hazard climate risk and financial and health impacts on northern homeowners
Abstract Currently, more than half of the world’s human population lives in urban areas, which are increasingly affected by climate hazards. Little is known about how multi-hazard environments affect people, especially those living in urban areas in northern latitudes. This study surveyed homeowners in Anchorage and Fairbanks, USA, Alaska’s largest urban centers, to measure individual risk perceptions, mitigation response, and damages related to wildfire, surface ice hazards, and permafrost thaw. Up to one third of residents reported being affected by all three hazards, with surface ice hazards being the most widely distributed, related to an estimated $25 million in annual damages. Behavioral risk response, policy recommendations for rapidly changing urban environments, and the challenges to local governments in mitigation efforts are discussed.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1927537
- PAR ID:
- 10473853
- Publisher / Repository:
- Springer Science + Business Media
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Ambio
- Volume:
- 53
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 0044-7447
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 389-405
- Size(s):
- p. 389-405
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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