Earthquake risk in Accra, Ghana: Household perceptions,awareness, and preparedness in a rapidly urbanisingmetropolis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64866/j.ijdscr.2026.10036Keywords:
Earthquake preparedness, earthquake risk perception, household preparedness, earthquake awareness, urban seismic risk;, disaster risk reduction, Greater Accra Metropolitan Area, GhanaAbstract
This century has experienced a rapid surge in environmental disasters globally. In many countries, the response to these disasters has largely been limited to providing relief supplies to victims. This approach is reactive rather than proactive and is undertaken in the aftermath of the disaster. The need for proactive approaches has been articulated. Drawing on a mixed-methods approach through a pragmatic research philosophy, this study aims to assess households’ earthquake risk perceptions, awareness, and preparedness in Ghana's Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA). Surveys, semi-structured interviews, and a binary logistic regression model were utilised to ascertain the key predictors of earthquake preparedness. The study revealed that while nearly half of the surveyed households acknowledged awareness of potential earthquake threats, their preparedness for imminent emergencies remained critically low. The study further showed that only 32.9% of the surveyed households were familiar with the conventional protocol ‘drop, cover and hold on during the shaking, moving to safety afterwards and preparing for aftershocks. Also, only 5.5% had contingency plans for post-earthquake emergency recovery. Prior tremor experience showed a significant positive effect on preparedness [B = 0.56, p = .022, Exp(B) = 1.75]. The findings provide empirical evidence to support household-level earthquake preparedness, public risk communication, and urban disaster risk reduction in Accra and comparable rapidly urbanising cities.
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