Risk Communication in Earthquake Vulnerability in District Bagh, Azad Jammu And Kashmir: Review of Literature and Pilot Study

Abstract

This study is mainly concerned to assess the role of Risk Communication in Earthquake Vulnerability and its impacts on Building Resilience in District Bagh Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Disaster resilience is gaining attention from all over the world. More specifically, seismic resilience in buildings is of prime concern among governmental bodies of developed as well as developing countries. This is partially due to the fact that the collapsing of vulnerable structures contribute to a great proportion of the number of fatalities in the wake of increasing Seismicity. Secondly, the recurrence of earthquakes on a global scale is increasing with increase in its magnitude. This study was focused to assess the impact and role of risk communication in earthquake vulnerability in district Bagh, Azad Jammu and Kashmir in enhancing resilience of residential buildings and also its moderating role between Earthquake Vulnerability and resilience of residential buildings in study area. In fact there is great gape; people in the vulnerable areas do not get required information about various hazards. For this study District Bagh of Azad Jammu and Kashmir was selected due to the facts, it suffered a lot during 2005 Earthquake and still it is prone to more damages due to lack of implementation of building codes and requisite information on the vulnerability. An exploratory type of study has been conducted. For pilot study 50 respondents were approached for collection of data with the help of questionnaires in different areas of District Bagh. Findings of the pilot study along with recommendations for policy makers, managers and target readers have been given in detail. Contribution to the body of knowledge and future call is also jotted down. If people are educated well about various hazards they can reduce the vulnerability to a great extent. Nevertheless, through better integration of risk communication means and enhancing level of awareness would prove instrumental in overcoming the lapses Keywords: Risk communication, Earthquake vulnerability and Resilience.