Risk Perception and Communication Human

Risk Perception and Communication

Human nature and human consciousness are incredible dimensions. While they generally help the individual, they also often dictate behavior which is not in the advantage of the individual. Human nature for instance allows women to recover and forget the trauma of giving birth, but they also led individuals to believe that the evils of the world will not happen to them. Smokers continue to smoke because they do not believe that illness would strike them. Careless drivers continue to be careless because they believe accidents would not happen to them. People continue to be live unprotected in areas where tornado hazards are prone to happen because they believe they are protected by the large hill on the west of the town. How to convince them they are wrong? And what sources to use in this endeavor? The two unbeatable sources -- history and science.

From a scientific standpoint, the belief that hills could protect towns or cities against tornados is catalogued simply as a myth and it is a result of false hopes as well as circumstantial events.

"The idea that one's town is "protected" is a combination of wishful thinking, short memory, the rarity of tornadoes, and a distorted sense of "here" and "there." Proof of protection has been offered by a very simple statement of fact. The town has never been hit by a tornado, but 10 tornadoes have touched down "outside" of town in the past 30 years. The occurrence information may be fact, but the conclusion that the town must be "protected" does not logically follow" (The Tornado Project, 1999).

Aside from hope, a limited recollection and the alignment of various situations in a favorable context, the perception of hills protecting the town could also be explained by the reduced understanding of the other elements in the equation, such as:

The impact, namely the lack of impact, rivers and lakes have on mature tornados

Topography would only offer the sense of protection against small tornados, which destroy the top of the hill.

From the historic standpoint, as well as from a scientific standpoint, the hill's ability to protect against tornados is once again promoted as a myth. Originated from the Native Americans, the myth argued that there were specific areas protected against tornados by land features, such as hills, rivers, mountains or ridges. The legends were passed on from one generation to the other and created a false sense of protection. Until the tornados hit almost all region in the Rocky Mountains, to kill tens of people (Scavuzzo, 2004).