Starominski-Uehara, M. (2023). Perceptions over flood insurance in Australia. International Journal of Mass Emergencies & Disasters, 41(2-3), 189-207.
summary by Claude:
This study examines perceptions and decisions around flood insurance among residents in flood-prone areas of Brisbane, Australia after the major 2011 floods. The main findings are:
There is a need to clearly define "flooding" in insurance policies to minimize confusion and rejected claims from policyholders.
Insurers' recommendations do not significantly influence households' decisions to undertake flood risk reduction measures for their properties.
Residents show self-reliance in managing flood risks rather than relying on government assistance, even without public flood insurance schemes.
Residents object to increased insurance premiums based on updates to flood hazard maps by authorities.
The study used a questionnaire delivered to 1796 households across 11 Brisbane suburbs, with a 26.16% response rate. It applied logistic regression modeling and descriptive statistics to analyze the relationships between flood insurance perceptions/decisions and various explanatory variables.
The findings highlight issues around insurance policy definitions, the limited influence of insurers on household mitigation actions, residents' self-reliance, and resistance to premium increases from updated hazard maps. The study aims to inform flood insurance policies from these empirical insights in the Australian context.